About
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. He is regarded as one of the most versatile writers of the Georgian era, and his 1766 novel, The Vicar of Wakefield, was among the most popular and influential literary works of 18th-century Great Britain. He also wrote the comedy plays The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771), as well as the social commentary poem The Deserted Village (1770). Goldsmith is additionally thought by some literary commentators, including Washington Irving, to have written the 1765 classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, one of the earliest and most influential known works of children's literature.