Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller: A Prospect of Society

Paul Baines (University of Liverpool)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1764

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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From February 1755 to February 1756 Goldsmith was on the Continent, performing a somewhat impecunious version of the Grand Tour. At some point on these travels he began composition of a major poem combining landscape description with musings on the characteristics of different nations. Goldsmith admired Addison's verse

Letter from Italy

(1703), which probably formed one of his models, alongside well-known “prospect” poems such as Sir John Denham's

Cooper's Hill

(1642) and Pope's

Windsor-Forest

(1713). But the poem also participates in a busy European debate on national characters inaugurated by Montesquieu's

L'Esprit des Lois

(1748). After returning to England, Goldsmith painstakingly revised and extended the poem, while subsisting mainly on journalism. He was eventually cajoled into…

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855 words

Citation: Baines, Paul. "The Traveller: A Prospect of Society". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 July 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7969, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller: A Prospect of Society

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