The summary of the Poem " The Vanishing Village" by R. S. Thomas

byAmin Goher -11:40 AM

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This is the summary, theme, critical appreciation, and reference to the context of the poem The Vanishing Village written by R. S. Thomas. This post is for the students of college and university students, particularly Punjab University. The summary is written in simple and easy language. I have also given the critical appreciation, and theme of the poem. I have also given reference to the context of the poem.

The Vanishing Village

(R. S Thomas)

Introduction of the poem

The Vanishing Village is written by R. S. Thomas. R. S Thomas has a deeply religious background. He was a priest. This poem is about a village that is vanishing day by day. Its habitats are migrating to cities and village that is considered the basic element of the world is going to destroy. The poet says there are few houses in the village. This village has a Small street which ended on a hill. There is no grass which is very important for the village.

There is disappointment everywhere in the village but the poet is not hopeless. He saw a girl who is moving from one door to another door. This girl is the hope of life. The poet is hopeful that one will come when all hustle and bustle of a village will return back because of the village's basic element of progress. The village will maintain its beauty and charm.

The poem presents a pathetic picture of a nearly vanished village. The village is presented a deserted look. Nearly all the inhabitants have left it. Villages are basic units of human civilization and we must not neglect them. The poet describes the condition of that vanishing village. The poet hopes for a revival of the colorful life of that village.

Summary

This poem presents a dreadful picture of a deserted village. It seems to be a haunted village. It has scarcely a street and a few houses. Its inhabitants have left it. Here the poet says that people are migrating. That is why; the villages in the modern age have become empty and deserted. In the village, there is only one shop and hotel. The houses are also in bad shape. The streets of the village have disappeared. There is us one path in the village which leads nowhere. The most tragic thing is that path leads to the top of the sort hill. The hill is eaten away by the long erosion of green tide.

The village presents a sad picture in the poem. It suggests the negation of life the deserted village is the symbol of the waste and barrenness of modern life. As villages are vanishing similarly healthy life is destroying day by day. The death overpowered the death. The poet feels very sad about this change.

The poet continues to presents a sad picture in all poems. He says that even the black dog, which once tried to cracking his fleas, has also died. There is hope. There a girl who crosses from door to door and in this way connects the village with life and nature.

The presence of the girl in the village is a symbol of hope. The deserted village is not going to disappear at all. Perhaps, this is the central theme of the poem. . But the basic unit of civilization and culture is still a village. A village still remains the most powerful nit of life in the world. It has to play a meaningful role in the social evolution explained by the great thinker Plato.

The poet yearns for a revival of the previous colorful life and activity of the ideal Greek village. He mourns on vanishing village. He is wistful about the revival of the village. The tone of the poet is sad wistful and sometimes witty. The frozen life of the village is reflected in the slow movement of the lines.

Reference to the context

Reference

These lines have been selected from the poem “The vanishing Village” was written by R.S. Thomas who great poet and critic.

Context

In this poem, the poet has given us a picture of the gloomy and deserted village. The inhabitants of the village have left it. There is no sign of life in it the wild grass and bushes have appeared on the only path which led to the village. However, the poet is hopeful that the village would gain life in it after some time. In `his view, the village is the basic unit of life and we cannot finish it.

Critical Appreciation

The Vanishing Village is an interesting poem by R. S. Thomas. In fact, it is a requiem for rural life that is disappearing from the face of the earth. The poet expresses regret on the modern tendency of giving up village life in favor of urban life. He is a keen advocate of Plato’s that village is the origin of human civilization. The poet feels dejected at the miserable plight of the village in this poem.

The poet tells us in a sorrowful and nostalgic mood that there are too few houses and hardly any streets. Left in this village. There is only one road that leads nowhere and ends at the top of a small hill nearby. Everything in this village is being eaten away by large-scale erosion.

There is a shop and an inn also, but there is no such activity as is expected around such places in a village, Even the dog relaxing in the sun and trying to kill fleas from his body is history now. It is because of the constant migration of villagers towards cities that life is disappearing from villages.

However, the poet notices a small girl moving from door to door in this wilderness that used to be a village once. This only human being is a ray of hope. She is the sign of life that will return The recalls Plato’s idea that human civilization revolves around the axis of the village. He wants all of us to preserve village life and so preserve our origin of civilization

It is not the situation of one village only. Across the globe, we find the same tendency of neglect towards villages. The modern world is doubtlessly becoming a global village without villages.

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