Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1773).

He was the son of an Anglican cleric and grew up in Athlone in Ireland. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1749 at Trinity College, Dublin, studying theology and law but never getting as far as ordination. He later studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Leiden, then toured Europe, living on his wits. On his return, he settled in London, where he worked as an apothecary's assistant. Perennially in debt, Goldsmith had a massive output as a hack writer for the publishers of London, but his few painstaking works earned him the company of Samuel Johnson, along with whom he was a founding member of "The Club."

He was buried in Temple Church. There is a monument to him in Westminster Abbey with an epitaph written by Samuel Johnson.

Goldsmith's birth date is not known for certain. According to the Library of Congress authority file, he told a biographer that he was born on November 29, 1731 or perhaps 1730. Other sources have indicated November 10, on any year from 1727 to 1731. November 10, 1730 is now the most commonly accepted birth date, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Notable Works

• The Citizen of the World (1762)
• The Traveller (1764)
• The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)
• The Good-natur'd Man (1768)
• The Deserted Village (1770)
• She Stoops to Conquer (1773)

See Auburn, for the influence of The Deserted Village.

External links

• Text of The Deserted Village: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/goldsmith
• Full text of Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography by Washington Irving from Project Gutenberg
• An Essay on the Theatre; or, A Comparison Between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy

References

• The Vicar of Wakefield, ISBN 0192839403
• She Stoops to Conquer, ISBN 0486268675
• Life of Oliver Goldsmith, by Washington Irving, ISBN 1589632362
• The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith by Austin Dobson (Editor), ISBN 158827277X
• Oliver Goldsmith (Everyman's Poetry Series) edited by Gordon Campbell, ISBN 0460878271