Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village

Paul Baines (University of Liverpool)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1770

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Goldsmith had been worrying about changes in the way agriculture was organised in Britain for some years before he wrote

The Deserted Village

. He is probably the author of an essay entitled “The Revolution in Low Life” which appeared in

Lloyd’s Evening Post

, 14-16 June 1762, which anticipates the themes of the poem, and he had commented on depopulation in the countryside in his poem

The Traveller

(1764). His novel

The Vicar of

Wakefield (1766) also gives a detailed picture of the vulnerability of rural life to power and money. From 1768 Goldsmith lived in a cottage at Edgeware, then in the countryside at some distance from London. He worked on

The Deserted Village

for about two years before its publication, but had been collecting materials on country visits for some years before…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2188 words

Citation: Baines, Paul. "The Deserted Village". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1100, accessed 23 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback