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The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith

Chapter 34: FOOTNOTES:
By Oliver Goldsmith
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British LiteraturePoetry

About This Book

This collection assembles lyrical, narrative, and didactic poems that mix pastoral description, social observation, and satirical wit. Works move between reflective meditations on rural life and change, concise moral essays in verse, and light comic sketches, employing classical allusion, clear narrative, and a conversational voice. Themes include the displacement of village communities, the absurdities of fashion and ambition, and sympathy for ordinary experience, balanced by formal variety and humor. The edition is accompanied by an editorial preface and biographical notes that contextualize the poems and clarify language and references.

EPITAPH
ON EDWARD PURDON.42

Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed,
 Who long was a booksellers’ hack;
 He led such a damnable life in this world,
 I don’t think he’ll wish to come back.

FOOTNOTES:

42 Edward Purdon was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; but having wasted his patrimony, he enlisted as a foot soldier. Growing tired of the army, he obtained his discharge, and became a scribbler in the newspapers. He translated Voltaire’s Henriade, and died in 1767.