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Outlines of English and American Literature
Oliver Goldsmith
by Long, William J.
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Most versatile of eighteenth-century writers was "poor Noll," a most
improvident kind of man in all worldly ways, but so skillful with his pen
that Johnson wrote a sincere epitaph to the effect that Goldsmith attempted
every form of literature, and adorned everything which he attempted. The
form of his verse suggests the formal school, and his polished couplets
rival those of Pope; but there the resemblance ceases. In his tenderness
and humor, in his homely subjects and the warm human sympathy with which he
describes them, Goldsmith belongs to the new romantic school of poetry.
Life
The life of Goldsmith has inspired many pens; but the
subject, far from being exhausted, is still awaiting the right
biographer. The poet's youthful escapades in the Irish country, his
classical education at Trinity College, Dublin, and his vagabond
studies among gypsies and peddlers, his childish attempts at
various professions, his wanderings over Europe, his shifts and
makeshifts to earn a living in London, his tilts with Johnson at
the Literary Club, his love of gorgeous raiment, his indiscriminate
charity, his poverty, his simplicity, his success in the art of
writing and his total failure in the art of living,--such
kaleidoscopic elements make a brief biography impossible. The
character of the man appears in a single incident.
Landing one day on the Continent with a flute, a spare shirt and a
guinea as his sole outward possessions, the guinea went for a feast
and a game of cards at the nearest inn, and the shirt to the first
beggar that asked for it. There remained only the flute, and with
that Goldsmith fared forth confidently, like the gleeman of old
with his harp, delighted at seeing the world, utterly forgetful of
the fact that he had crossed the Channel in search of a medical
education.
That aimless, happy-go-lucky journey was typical of Goldsmith's
whole life of forty-odd years. Those who knew him loved but
despaired of him. When he passed away (1774) Johnson summed up the
feeling of the English literary world in the sentence, "He was a
very great man, let not his frailties be remembered."
Goldsmith's Prose and Verse
Among the forgotten works of Goldsmith we note
with interest several that he wrote for children: a fanciful History of
England, an entertaining but most unreliable Animated Nature,
and probably also the tale of "Little Goody Twoshoes." These were written
(as were all his other works) to satisfy the demands of his landlady, or to
pay an old debt, or to buy a new cloak,--a plum-colored velvet cloak,
wherewith to appear at the opera or to dazzle the Literary Club. From among
his works we select four, as illustrative of Goldsmith's versatility.
The Citizen of the World, a series of letters from an alleged
Chinese visitor, invites comparison with the essays of Addison or Steele.
All three writers are satirical, all have a high moral purpose, all are
masters of a graceful style, but where the "Spectator" touches the surface
of life, Goldsmith often goes deeper and probes the very spirit of the
eighteenth century. Here is a paragraph from the first letter, in which the
alleged visitor, who has heard much of the wealth and culture of London,
sets down his first impressions:
"From these circumstances in their buildings, and from the dismal
looks of the inhabitants, I am induced to conclude that the nation
is actually poor, and that, like the Persians, they make a splendid
figure everywhere but at home. The proverb of Xixofou is, that a
man's riches may be seen in his eyes if we judge of the English by
this rule, there is not a poorer nation under the sun."
The Deserted Village
The Deserted Village (1770) is the best remembered of Goldsmith's
poems, or perhaps one should say "verses" in deference to critics like
Matthew Arnold who classify the work with Pope's Essay on Man, as a
rimed dissertation rather than a true poem.
To compare the two works just mentioned is to discover how far Goldsmith is
from his formal model. In Pope's "Essay" we find common sense, moral maxims
and some alleged philosophy, but no emotion, no romance, no men or women.
The "Village," on the other hand, is romantic even in desolation; it
awakens our interest, our sympathy; and it gives us two characters, the
Parson and the Schoolmaster, who live in our memories with the best of
Chaucer's creations. Moreover, it makes the commonplace life of man ideal
and beautiful, and so appeals to readers of widely different tastes or
nationalities. Of the many ambitious poems written in the eighteenth
century, the two most widely read (aside from the songs of Burns) are
Goldsmith's "Village," which portrays the life of simple country people,
and Gray's "Elegy," which laments their death.
Vicar of Wakefield
Goldsmith's one novel, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), has been well
called "the Prince Charming" of our early works of fiction. This work has a
threefold distinction: its style alone is enough to make it pleasant
reading; as a story it retains much of its original charm, after a century
and a half of proving; by its moral purity it offered the best kind of
rebuke to the vulgar tendency of the early English novel, and influenced
subsequent fiction in the direction of cleanness and decency.
The story is that of a certain vicar, or clergyman, Dr. Primrose and his
family, who pass through heavy trials and misfortunes. These might crush or
embitter an ordinary man, but they only serve to make the Vicar's love for
his children, his trust in God, his tenderness for humanity, shine out more
clearly, like star's after a tempest. Mingled with these affecting trials
are many droll situations which probably reflect something of the author's
personal escapades; for Goldsmith was the son of a clergyman, and brought
himself and his father into his tale. As a novel, that is, a reflection of
human life in the form of a story, it contains many weaknesses; but despite
its faults of moralizing and sentimentality, the impression which the story
leaves is one of "sweetness and light." Swinburne says that, of all novels
he had seen rise and fall in three generations, The Vicar of
Wakefield alone had retained the same high level in the opinion of its
readers.
She Stoops to Conquer
Another notable work is Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer. The
date of that comedy (1773) recalls the fact that, though it has been played
for nearly a century and a half, during which a thousand popular plays have
been forgotten, it is still a prime favorite on the amateur stage. Perhaps
the only other comedies of which the same can be said with approximate
truth are The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1777)
of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
The plot of She Stoops to Conquer is said to have been suggested by
one of Goldsmith's queer adventures. He arrived one day at a village,
riding a borrowed nag, and with the air of a lordly traveler asked a
stranger to direct him "to the best house in the place." The stranger
misunderstood, or else was a rare wag, for he showed the way to the abode
of a wealthy gentleman. There Goldsmith made himself at home, ordered the
servants about, invited his host to share a bottle of wine,--in short, made
a great fool of himself. Evidently the host was also a wag, for he let the
joke run on till the victim was ready to ride away. [Footnote: There is
some doubt as to the source of Goldsmith's plot. It may have been suggested
by an earlier French comedy by Marivaux.]
From some such crazy escapade Goldsmith made his comedy of manners, a
lively, rollicking comedy of topsy-turvy scenes, all hinging upon the
incident of mistaking a private house for a public inn. We have called
She Stoops to Conquer a comedy of eighteenth-century manners, but
our continued interest in its absurdities would seem to indicate that it is
a comedy of human nature in all ages.
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