Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: ...many should be forgiven, for he " loved much" Asapoet,%rz.ct marks Goldsmith rather than power--"sweetness" rather than 'light." In accordance with the dubious theory of his age, he attempted what was called didactic poetry. Both The Traveller and The Deserted Village have a didactic purpose. So far as that purpose predominates, they fail as poems, if not also as philosophical treatises. But happily Goldsmith's practice was better than his theory. Moved by a true poetic instinct, he often forgets his text; he intermits his preaching or his argumentation; and turns his powers to properer uses. Goldsmith is certainly one of our most charming descriptive poets. One cannot readily mention any pieces of domestic scenery that deserve comparison with those he has given us. Crabbe essayed to follow in his train; but, great as are his merits, he can scarcely be equalled with his master. In his facts Goldsmith is we'll-nigh as faithful as Teniers; in sentiment and in spirit he excels him. THE TRAVELLER, OR A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY; This poem was begun during Goldsmith's wanderings abroad. The first sketch is said to have been sent from Switzerland to his brother Henry in Ireland. Perhaps what is called the first sketch was only the opening passage in which he talks of himself and home, and of his brother. Certainly there is something abrupt in the relation of that passage to the main part of the poem--in the transition from those personal thoughts to the thesis proposed to be treated of--from the home-sick wanderer to the abstracted philosopher. See 11. 31--62. Probably other parts were written during his subsequent travels. Johnson, to whom what was written was shown when Goldsmith and he became acquainted, recognized the merit of it and urged its...
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