The Poem 'The Village School Master' by Oliver Goldsmith

 Poem

The village School Master

By Oliver Goldsmith

 

 

      Besides yon straggling fence that skirts the way,

With blossomed furze unprofitably gay,

There in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule,

The village master taught his little school;

                           A man severe he was and stern to view;                        5

Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace

The day’s disaster in his morning face;

Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee,

                          At all his jokes, for many a joke had he,                          10

Full well the busy whisper circling round,

Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned;

Yet he was kind, or if severe in taught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault;

                           The village all decleared how much he knew;                         15

T was certain he could write, and cipher too;

Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,

And even the story ran that he could gauge.

In arguing too, the parson owned his skill,

                        For even though vanquished, he could argue still;                       20

While words of learned length and thundering sound

Amazed the gazed rustics ranged round,

And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.