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Goldsmith expresses his comic vision of human experience in language that induces the reader’s continuing attention and seduces the reader’s affection.
The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society(1764) is a philosophical poem by novelist Oliver Goldsmith. In heroic verseof an Augustanstyle it discusses the causes of happiness and unhappiness in nations. It was the work which first made Goldsmith's name, and is still considered a classic of mid-18th-century poetry.
- Overview
- Works in Biographical and Historical Context
- Works in Literary Context
- Works in Critical Context
- Responses to Literature
- Bibliography
Oliver Goldsmithwas one of the most important writers of the Augustan Age, otherwise known as the neoclassical age or the Age of Reason. The most striking feature of Goldsmith's writing is his versatility; he wrote across genres, including the essay, the pseudoletter, the novel, poetry, history, and biography.
Growing Up the Son of a Poor ClergymanGoldsmith was the fifth child born to the Reverend Charles Goldsmith and his wife. During his youth, his family was poor, but not in serious financial straits. His parents had planned for a university education for their son, but his older sister's marriage necessitated a large dowry and left no money for tuiti...
In a brief but intensely creative period of sixteen years, Goldsmith distinguished himself in a broad variety of literary forms, writing essays, biographies, histories, poems, plays, and a novel. In all he wrote he achieved a style of remarkable ease and charm. Goldsmith's most important literary works were in many respects inspired by his dislike ...
A First-Rank Historian In an assessment of his importance as a writer, one returns inevitably to the charm of his style and the sheer breadth of his work across genres. In 1773, Johnson said: “Whether, indeed, we take him as a poet—as a comick writer—or as an historian, he stands in the first rank.” He held strong moral convictions, and though tole...
Goldsmith distinguished himself in a broad variety of literary forms. Make a list of other authors who have successfully written across genres. Then, choose one of those authors and read a short se...Commentators often disagree about whether Goldsmith's apparent sentimentality is meant to be taken seriously or is meant to be a satirical attack. With one of your classmates, discuss how both of t...In The Vicar of Wakefield, the reader is told no more than the vicar himself knows, which is much less than the entire story. Write an essay filling out what an omniscient, third-person narrator mi...Much of Goldsmith's writing was inspired by a dislike of the literary sensibilities of his day. Make a list of present-day literary sensibilities that you dislike and explain the reasons for each o...Books
Dobson, Austin. Life of Oliver Goldsmith. London: Scott, 1888. Forster, John. The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith. London: Bradbury & Evans, Chapman & Hall, 1848; revised and enlarged, 2 volumes, 1854. Ginger, John. The Notable Man: The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith. London: Hamilton, 1977. Hopkins, Robert H. The True Genius of Oliver Goldsmith. Baltimore: Johns HopkinsPress, 1969. Kirk, Clara M. Oliver Goldsmith. New York: Twayne, 1967. Paden, William D. Clyde Kenneth Hyder. A C...
His passions and invective — and wit — can be explained readily enough by the socio-economic developments that gave rise to them. Similarly, the Canadian Goldsmith’s position can be explained by the different situation in Nova Scotia.
Goldsmith satirizes his country by using this device, and through these letters, fictionalizes his own experiences as a traveller to many parts of the world. The satire becomes even more authentic because Goldsmith takes care to portray Altangi as a reliable and authoritative observer of the English scene.
Through four sections covering Goldsmith's Life and Career; Social, Cultural, and Intellectual Contexts; Literary Contexts; and Critical Fortunes and Afterlives, this volume engages with a wide range of illuminating topics that will allow both new and experienced readers of Goldsmith to understand more deeply the impact he had on his times and ...
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Like the tyger that seldom desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the reader, who has once gratified his appetite with calumny, makes, ever after, the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputation. Such readers generally admire some half-witted thing, who wants to be thought a bold man, having lost the character of ...
