The Deserted Village, A Poem

1770 Goldsmith, Oliver (1728-74). The Deserted Village, A Poem. London: W. Griffin. There were five further editions in 1770, a 7th ed. in 1772 and an 8th ed. in 1774. Rpt. in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. Now First Collected with an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. 2 Vols. (London: Ptd. by H. Goldney, 1780), 1: 53-74; and in  Collected Works of Oliver Goldsmith. Volume IV The Vicar of Wakefield Poems The Mystery Revealed. Ed. Arthur Friedman (Oxford, Eng.: The Clarendon Press, 1966), 283-304 with extensive footnotes and an “Introduction” (271-281). L, PSt

The poem begins with a description of a village called Auburn as a eutopia, but the wealthy landowner pushes the people off the land creating the deserted village. For what is called the first draft, see what is called the first draft in “Revolution in Low Life.” New Essays by Oliver Goldsmith Now First Collected and Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Ronald S. Crane (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), 116-124. First published without the author’s name or a title in Lloyd’s Evening Post and British Chronicle 10.768 (June 14-16, 1762): 571. Cut in the Universal Museum, Gentlemen’s and Ladies Polite Magazine 1 (June 1762): 323-334.