The City Being a Pastiche of Book One of George Crabbe's The Village

George Crabbe (1754-1832) was an English writer of poems and verse tales memorable for their realistic details of everyday life. Hating his mean surroundings and unsuccessful occupation as a surgeon, he abandoned both in 1780 and went to London to be a poet. In 1783, he demonstrated his full powers of verse with The Village, an attempt to portray realistically the misery and degradation of rural poverty, while making good use of his detailed observation of life in the bleak countryside from which he came. In writing this pastiche, the author has sought continuity in the poetics and style of the poet and has described his lived experience in community housing.