Goldsmith, Oliver

(1728-1774)

   Born in Ireland, the son of an Anglo-Irish clergyman, he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1749. After studying medicine at Edinburgh, though he took no degree, and at Leiden, he wandered Europe and arrived in London in 1756 almost destitute. He supported himself with doctoring and as a hack writer, where he was noticed for his grace148 ful, lively, and readable style. His rise to fame started with Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe (1759). In 1764 he became one of the nine founder-members of the "Club" of famous people. He died after a short illness, burdened with debt, and is memorialized by a monument in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. "The Deserted Village" is probably his finest poem. Several shorter pieces, including "When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly" and "Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog," appear in his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1762). Some of his other poems: "Britain," "Epitaph on Dr. Parnell," "Retaliation," "Song: From the Oratorio of the Captivity," "Stanzas on the Taking of Quebec," "The Clown's Reply," "The Double Transformation," "The Hermit."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Everyman's Book of English Verse. John Wain, ed. J.M. Dent, 1981. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith. Rev. J. Mitford, ed. William Pickering, 1851. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).