CHAPTER-2
AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG
-OLIVER GOLDSMITH
SUMMARY:
An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog is written by the Irish poet and playwright, Oliver
Goldsmith. This poem is mourning the death of a dog and is called an “Elegy” which is a
poem which expresses sad feelings over the death of a friend or of an important person. It
also explains about a rabid dog who bit a man, and the effect that this act of violence has on
the people of London.
This poem is a comic satire on human behaviour with the rhyme scheme abab. The main
characters in this poem are a man and a dog. Though the poem is an elegy as described, it is
actually a satire on an elegy. The poet portrays the man as good, religious, kind whereas in
reality the poet is meaning the exact opposite. Throughout the poem, the satirical language
used is irony. The poem starts by addressing all the good people in the town called
Islington. The poet also addresses the man as a good Christian. But here the poet is showing
an ironical statement because there is only little good about the man.
The poet also shows the man’s journey as a ‘godly race’ who competes with other people to
be religious and kind. Here comes the second ironical statement where the poet is meaning
that the man has a deceptive appearance inside within the church premises. It is also
displayed that the man is so kind and gentle hearted that he even comforts both his friends
and enemies. The next portraying of the man is done by telling that he helps the poor and
needy by giving clothes. Whereas the actual meaning that the poet is trying to convey is
that he does not do any such kind of acts, instead he puts the clothes on himself.
There are dogs in the town from which the dog, the character of this poem appears. Though
they were friends (the man and the dog), it was only in the beginning. Later due to some
disturbance between them, the dog so as to take revenge on the man, went mad and bit him.
Here the poet emphasises that the dog has got a human quality which is taking revenge. The
neighbours after seeing it swore that the dog was mad to bite such a good man. Only a mad
dog can bite a good man.
The wound felt like it was very painful and sad to all the religious Christian people and
along with swearing on the dog, they also swore that the man would die. But it is shown
that the neighbours are rogues, as it was proved through a wonderful event that the man
recovered from the bite but the dog died.
Through this poem, the poet is trying to tell that the man was more dangerous and
poisonous than the dog and the dog in real was a symbol of being good. The dog got
poisoned with the man’s poisonous character and died. Basically it is shown about the
general human nature.
Post-Reading Activity (pg:23-26)
II. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:
1. a. Islington
b. alliteration – friends and foes
c. ii. Soothe
d. ii. His charitable nature spread his name far and wide, amongst friends and foes alike.
e. He offers comforting words not just to his friends but to his enemies as well.
2.a. Before the incident, the man and the dog shared a friendly relation with love.
b. because it bit a man who seemed to be kind and gentle
c. iii. Canine
d. iii. The poet apparently criticises the dog but actually condemns the man.
e. YOUR OWN ANSWER
3. a. The wonder is that despite the dog biting the man, it is the dog that dies and the man
survives.
b. Just in the previous stanza, the neighbours were referred to as “every Christian eye”.
c. iv. Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world
d. ii. Because their prophecies had not come true.
e. One of the meanings of ‘wonder’ is difficult to believe; the poet shows that the actions
of human beings cannot be believed since they are duplicitous and hypocritical.
III. Answer the following questions in 50-60 words: (pg:26)
1. The town thought of the man from Islington as religious, spiritual, generous and kind-
hearted.
The examples cane be that he gives clothes to the needy/homeless people, and kind-hearted
by dressing himself.
2. The neighbours thought that the dog was mad since it had bitten an apparently saintly
man. They were certain that man would have died after being bitten by a ‘mad’ dog. But the
opposite happened and the man survived while the dog died. This left the neighbours
wonder-struck.
3. After reading the poem, it is clear that the speaker cannot be trusted since he had earlier
described the townspeople as having a ‘Christian eye’ and later called the same people
‘rogues’; it is possible that the reason the speaker gives for the dog biting the man—to
settle a personal grudge—may not be true; perhaps the dog bit the man because it had been
ill-treated.
