Goldsmith, Oliver (1730?-1774), was an Irish-born writer who produced a variety of works marked by a charming, lively style. His play She Stoops to Conquer (1773) ranks among the finest comedies ever written. Its hero is a bashful young man who mistakes a country mansion for an inn. He treats the master of the house as an innkeeper and the master’s beautiful daughter as a servant. The most amusing character is the daughter’s brother Tony Lumpkin, a prankster whose antics add to the confusion. Goldsmith’s comedy The Good-Natur’d Man (1768) was less successful.
Goldsmith believed that comedy should make people laugh. He attacked the tearful comedies then popular on the London stage in the essay “A Comparison Between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy” (1773).
The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Goldsmith’s only novel, is a charming story about the simple life of the Primrose family and their misfortunes. The father, a vicar (country clergyman), is an idealized figure with a wise philosophy. The novel is filled with kindly emotions, and teaches the value of humility and courage.
The Deserted Village (1770) is a long poem about the English countryside. It shows the evil that results when people place too much importance on money and luxury. It also paints a tender picture of a happy farm village before commercial considerations destroyed it.
The Citizen of the World (1762) is a collection of Goldsmith’s essays. In it, Goldsmith adopted the then common practice among English writers of having a visitor to England write home about the strange customs he noticed. Goldsmith thus exposed the shortcomings he saw in the English people of his time.
Goldsmith was born in Ballymahon, Ireland. He studied medicine in Scotland but was never a serious student. In 1756, after traveling for two years in Europe, he went to London and tried unsuccessfully to establish himself as a doctor. He began writing for magazines to support himself. Goldsmith won his first recognition for The Traveller (1764), a philosophical poem. He became a successful author, but he was careless with money and owed many debts when he died. He belonged to the famous Literary Club, which gathered around Samuel Johnson. Goldsmith died on April 4, 1774.
