An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1766

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Perhaps the central theme of Goldsmith’s poem is the idea that appearances can be deceiving and that not everything is as it looks. This moral is first expressed through the example of the man, whose reputation for godliness (Line 7), charity, kindness, and gentleness (Line 9) has thoroughly deceived his neighbors. Of course, the fight between the man and the dog, as well as the poem’s conclusion, ultimately proves that reputation false. Furthermore, the man’s wound similarly shows how appearances can be deceiving. Upon seeing the man’s wound from the dog, the neighbors lament that it looks “both sore and sad” (Line 25) and assert that the man will die from it (Line 28). However, the neighbors’ assertions are proven to be erroneous, since the man recovers from the wound without any complications.

In addition to the man, the theme of deceptive appearances is also expressed in the character of the dog. The speaker initially describes the dog as one of the many strays in Islington and groups him with the “curs of low degree” (Line 16). The speaker is the first to claim the dog “went mad and bit the man” (Line 20), and the neighbors repeat the speaker’s assessment when they declare the dog must have “lost his wits” (Line 23) in order to “bite so good a man” (Line 24). The neighbors reiterate this point later, this time swearing the dog “was mad” (Line 27) or had always been rabid. However, the poem’s conclusion calls into question the speaker’s initial and the neighbors’ repeated assumptions about the dog. The only information the poem offers about the dog is that he is a stray and that he and the man “at first were friends” (Line 17), before a “pique” (Line 18) or irritation between them arose. While there is no explanation of what caused this pique, the hidden corruption of the man and the dog’s fatal ending indicates that the dog was not necessarily “mad” or even at fault in the altercation. Both the man and the dog demonstrate that what is seemingly evident on the surface is often not reality; a seemingly kind and gentle man is capable of corruption and poison, and a stray dog is not always violent or rabid.

Religious Hypocrisy

Connected to the theme of deceiving appearances is the undertone of religious hypocrisy that reoccurs throughout the poem. The man supposedly runs a “godly race” (Line 7) and has a “kind and gentle heart” (Line 9) for even his “foes” (Line 10). However, the man’s good actions are either a show to gain his neighbors’ esteem or are entirely self-serving. The speaker notes that it is “the world” that “might say” (Line 6) the man ran a “godly race,” since he is seen physically running to pray (Line 8). The man’s seeming piety is publicly on display for others to see, an action of religious hypocrisy. The Scripture condemns hypocrites for loving to pray where they “may be seen of men” (Matthew 6:5 KJV), a verse Goldsmith is clearly mindful of in his description of the man. Like a hypocrite, the man loves to be seen as pious and charitable, but he does not genuinely provide for or “clad” (Line 11) anyone except himself.

The man’s neighbors also demonstrate elements of religious hypocrisy. The speaker describes them as “wondering” (Line 22) and concerned about the man after his “sad” (Line 25) wound, but their actions throughout the poem demonstrate ulterior motives for their interest in the situation. Rather than sympathy for the man, the neighbors are mostly excited to discuss the incident. The speaker states, “Around all the neighboring streets / The wondering neighbors ran, / And swore the dog had lost his wits” (Lines 21-23). The word “ran” indicates the neighbors’ excitement and haste to tell the story all over the neighborhood, and their inserted opinions that the dog was mad and the man mortally wounded (Line 28) go beyond sympathy and verge on gossip. The speaker refers to the man’s wound seeming “both sore and sad / To every Christian eye” (Lines 25-26), initially characterizing the neighbors as Christians, but those same neighbors are later referred to as “rogues” (Line 30) once their assertions about the man and dog prove untrue. Like the man, the neighbors appear to be kind and concerned people, but inwardly they are rogues and gossips.

Narrative Framing and Personal Biases

Another theme Goldsmith emphasizes in “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” is the metafictional idea that all stories are told or constructed by someone who is biased and not entirely reliable as an objective observer. Initially, the speaker frames the audience’s understanding of the story, depicting the dog as “mad” (Line 20), and the neighbors push that same narrative, swearing the dog is mad (Line 27) and preparing the audience for an ending involving the man’s death. The speaker first describes these people as “Christian” (Line 26) but later regards them as “rogues” that lie (Line 30), challenging their credibility as well as the speaker’s own. The speaker framed a narrative of a mad dog biting a godly man and characterized the neighbors as concerned Christians, but in light of the poem’s conclusion, there is little evidence the dog actually was mad, and the speaker even changes opinion on the neighbors, now known as rogues. With the obvious shifts and inconsistencies in the speaker’s narrative, Goldsmith deliberately draws the audience’s attention to who frames a story and how language, like the unfounded descriptor “mad,” can condition and elicit a specific response, whether true or not.