"Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, / The soul adopts and owns their firstborn sway; / Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, / Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined."
— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
W. Griffin
Date
1770
Metaphor
"Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, / The soul adopts and owns their firstborn sway; / Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, / Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined."
Metaphor in Context
Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,
These simple blessings of the lowly train;
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm than all the gloss of art;
Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play,
The soul adopts and owns their firstborn sway;
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined:
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed,
In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain,
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain;
And, even while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy.
(ll. 251-64, pp. 686-7)
These simple blessings of the lowly train;
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm than all the gloss of art;
Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play,
The soul adopts and owns their firstborn sway;
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined:
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed,
In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain,
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain;
And, even while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy.
(ll. 251-64, pp. 686-7)
Categories
Provenance
Reading and HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 71 entries in ESTC (1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1775, 1777, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1786, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800). Complicated publication history: consult William B. Todd, "The Private Issues of the Deserted Village," in Studies in Bibliography 6 (1954), 25-44.
The Deserted Village, a Poem. By Dr Goldsmith. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, at Garrick's Head, in Catharine Street, Strand, 1770). <Link to ECCO [false imprint]>
See also Poems and Plays. By Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. to Which Is Prefixed, the Life of the Author. (Dublin: Printed for Wm. Wilson, 1777). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from Roger Lonsdale's The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, and Oliver Goldsmith (London and New York: Longman and Norton, 1972). <Link to LION>
The Deserted Village, a Poem. By Dr Goldsmith. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, at Garrick's Head, in Catharine Street, Strand, 1770). <Link to ECCO [false imprint]>
See also Poems and Plays. By Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. to Which Is Prefixed, the Life of the Author. (Dublin: Printed for Wm. Wilson, 1777). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from Roger Lonsdale's The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, and Oliver Goldsmith (London and New York: Longman and Norton, 1972). <Link to LION>
Date of Entry
11/23/2003
Date of Review
06/10/2010
