Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian era. His comedy plays for the English stage are considered second in importance only to those of William Shakespeare, and his magnum opus, the 1766 novel The Vicar of Wakefield, was one of the most popular and widely read literary works of 18th-century Great Britain. He wrote plays such as The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771), as well as the poem The Deserted Village (1770). Goldsmith is additionally thought by some literary commentators, including Washington Irving, to have written the 1765 classic children's novel The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, one of the earliest and most influential works of children's literature.

Goldsmith maintained a close friendship with Samuel Johnson, another prolific English writer. His personal mentorship resulted in Goldsmith expanding his literary style to include political writings. This long-term collaboration between the two authors has been described as, "one of the most fruitful intellectual partnerships in eighteenth-century English letters." He later became a member of Johnson's literary circle, known as The Club.

Goldsmith produced a very large number of poems during his career, and contributed to the flourishing of idyllic poetry during the Georgian era. He died in 1774 in London, and was buried in Temple Church.