Oliver Goldsmith was an English poet, playwright and a novelist. His date of birth is not certain, but according to the Library authority file, he was born in the year 1728. His birth place is also uncertain, but it is said that he was born in Ireland. He is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), The Deserted Village (1770), The Good Natur’d Man (1768), and She Stoops to Conquer (1771).
In the year 1744, he went to Trinity College, Dublin. He neglected his studies in theology and law and in the year 1747 he was expelled with four other undergraduates for a riot. In the year 1749 he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts. In the year 1756 he settled in London, where he did various types of jobs which included apothecary’s assistant as an Usher of the school. Most of Goldsmith’s work was for Ralph Griffith’s monthly review. One quality of his was seen by the public and book sellers i.e. graceful and lively writing. In a very less time he emerged as an essayist, in essays like The Bee and in Chinese Letters. His essays were collected as the citizen of the World in 1762 and were first published in The Public Ledger.
By the year 1762 Goldsmith was an established essayist with The Citizen of the World and in the year 1764 he had a reputation of a poet with The Traveller. In 1766 he portrayed himself as a novelist with The Vicar of Wakefield. In the year 1768, he started theatres with The Good Natur’d Man followed by She Stoops to Conquer in the year 1773 which were very successful. After a short illness in the year 1774 he died.
