The Village school Master(Summary)

                          The Village School Master

Para1

:Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way

With blossom’d furze unprofitably gay,

There, in his noisy mansion, skill’d to rule,

The village master taught his little school;

A man severe he was, and stern to view,

I knew him well, and every truant knew;

Well had the boding tremblers learn’d to trace

The days disasters in his morning face

Summary

The village school master ran his little school in a small village. It was situated next to the irregular fence that fringed the village path with full blossomed, beautiful but ornamental flowers. He was not only a very strict disciplinarian but also a severe person to observe. He was familiar to the poet and all other absentees because they had suffered the master’s anger. His face was to be carefully examined. The trembling pupils would gaze at his face to sense his present frame of mind. The day’s misfortunes were written on his forehead or in between the eyebrows.

Para2

Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee,

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he:

Full well the busy whisper, circling round,

Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd:

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault.

The village all declar'd how much he knew;

'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too

Summary

The school master was a contradiction. Although he was stern, he was kind and good- humoured. He had a store of jokes. When he told them, the children burst out in fake laughter, under the pretext that the jokes were awfully hilarious. If the children observed a frown on his forehead, they circulated the gloomy news throughout the classroom in an undertone. But he was in essence a kind man. If at all he d any fault, it was his intense love for learning. He wanted his pupils to become genuine scholars and hence, he had to be demanding with them.

Para3

Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,

And e'en the story ran that he could gauge.

In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill,

For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still;

While words of learned length and thund'ring sound

Amazed the gazing rustics rang'd around;

And still they gaz'd and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.

But past is all his fame. The very spot

Where many a time he triumph'd is forgot.

Summary

The villagers were unanimous in their opinion that he really was a learned and an extremely knowledgeable man. He without doubt could write and also work out sums in arithmetic. He could also survey land, forecast weather and tides. Besides, he was able to measure the content of a vessel. The parson approved of his skill in debate.Even if defeated, the school master would keep on arguing. He would become more fervent and would fling booming words at his adversary. The uncomprehending villagers would be convinced that the school master was establishing his standpoint very thoroughly. They stood round the two debaters and witnessed the verbal duel. They were awestruck when they heard the high-sounding and incomprehensible words used by the school master. They gawked at him and wondered how his small head could keep that enormous hoard of knowledge.

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