Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller: A Prospect of Society

Paul Baines (University of Liverpool)
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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…

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 19 March 2024.]

7969 The Traveller: A Prospect of Society 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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