The Village School Master - An Overview

 Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way

With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay,

There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,

The village master taught his little school;

A man severe he was, and stern to view,

I knew him well, and every truant knew;

Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace

The days disasters in his morning face;

Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee,

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he:

Full well the busy whisper, circling round,

Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd:

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault.

The village all declar'd how much he knew;

'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too:

Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,

And e'en the story ran that he could gauge.

In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill,

For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still;

While words of learned length and thund'ring sound

Amazed the gazing rustics rang'd around;

And still they gaz'd and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.

But past is all his fame. The very spot

Where many a time he triumph'd is forgot.

(Source: The Village Schoolmaster by Oliver Goldsmith - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry)

    The poem "The Village Schoolmaster" by Oliver Goldsmith is an extract from his famous poem The Deserted Village. The village Goldsmith is writing about is called "Auburn". It is not a real village, but an imaginary ideal one. It is possibly one of the villages he had observed as a child and a young man in Ireland and England. Goldsmith, returns to the village that he knew as vibrant and alive, and finds it deserted and overgrown. 

    The setting of the poem is described in the first three lines. Then Goldsmith discusses the character of the schoolmaster himself. By appearance, he is very severe and stern. The reader would consider him humourless, except that he likes to tell jokes. When Goldsmith says "the boding tremblers learn'd to trace/The days disasters in his morning face," the reader comes to know that the schoolmaster does not mince his words. In the final two lines, we guess that the schoolmaster is no more. All of his fame has gone and the schoolhouse, once vibrant is no longer in use.

    The schoolmaster was a big presence in the village. As far as literacy and numeracy were concerned, the people of the village looked up to him. The children were afraid of him. They laughed at his jokes, even if they were not funny at all. The adults were equally impressed with the way he could survey fields. He could even do more complex calculations. This is all ironic that the school-teacher appeared knowledgeable to the "gazing rustics". They were amazed that such a small head could hold such an enormous hoard of knowledge. The tone of the poem is balanced and gentleness.