Emotion In Oliver Goldsmith's 'The Deserted Village'

In almost everything we read, we read with emotion. We cannot help but feel a sort of emotion or emotions throughout our body while reading a piece of literature. Whether it is a love poem, a fable, or even an autobiography, you cannot deny the fact that emotion plays a huge role in literature. The ‘Literature of Feeling’ became an uprising genre for writers in the eighteenth century. This type of literature allowed writers to express emotions that they might have not been able to do before. In particular, two Irish writers by the name Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan were famous in this genre of literature. Whether it was Goldsmith’s empathy and sensibility towards a village in ‘The Deserted Village’ and his laughing comedy play

The poem starts with Goldsmith setting the scene of this almost Utopian like village. In stanza 10-14 Goldsmith writes, “The shelter’d cot, the cultivated farm, / The never-failing brook, the busy mill, / The decent church that topp’d the neighbouring hill; / The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, / For talking age and whispering lovers made!” (Goldsmith 10-14). With this, Goldsmith basks in this village’s beauty and how it brings happiness and love to the people who live there. As this sends a feeling of warmth, comfort, and joy in a reader’s heart throughout these first few stanzas, things quickly take a turn for the worst. Goldsmith’s mood changes shortly after expressing this Utopian like village in stanza 34 as he writes, “These were thy charms-but all these charms are fled” (Goldsmith 34). This stanza catches you off guard as you were so drawn into the wonderful feeling this village brings, begins to dwindle, into what feels like something

This play is relatively dramatic, like Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, but in a different way. This play dials its drama through the world of gossiping. It begins with a wealthy women name Lady Sneerwell and man by the name Joseph Surface who start the first rumour. This rumour consists of Joseph’s brother Charles having an affair with Sir Peter Teazle’s wife, Lady Teazle. The reason for this rumour is because Joseph wants to marry Maria, but Maria wants to marry Charles, so Joseph teams up with Lady Sneerwell. The reason Lady Sneerwell is instigating this rumour is because she hopes that Maria will resent Charles, which gives her an opportunity to be with Charles. With this rumour, more people find out about it. Now Sir Peter is becoming suspicious and tensions rise in his marriage with Lady Teazle. Joseph tries to come onto Maria in hopes that her feelings have changed due to the rumour, but Maria rejects him again. However, it seems as if Lady Teazle is showing affection towards