Answer:
The function of poetry is to teach people to live simple, unambitious lives .
Step-by-step explanation:
Oliver Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village talks about the loss of rural life and the development and the industrialization of lands that were once the lands of the rural farmers. Goldsmith seemed to address the shift in the lives of the rural people, driven away by big industries and even shifting abroad in search of jobs.
In lines 423- 430, the poet talks about the use of poetry to "Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain". According to him, "states of native strength [...] may still be very blest" while the "trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away". He also believes that "self-dependent power" can defy time "As rocks resist the billows and the sky". These 7 lines which end the poem seem to be a way of Goldsmith trying to say poetry should try to teach people to live simpler, unambitious lives.