The Sentimentalism of Goldsmith

Abstract

Two popular conceptions of Goldsmith stand out in sharp opposition. To many readers and to a few students The Deserted Village and The Vicar of Wakefield are masterpieces in the sentimental vein, books tinged with a kindly sympathy and with a longing for a bygone and a better day. To a portion of this group The Traveler bears a similar message that happiness is a creation of the individual heart independent of governments and of geographies. In contrast to this view of Goldsmith as the most charming of the sentimentalists, there is current another view which is rooted in Goldsmith's attack on sentimental comedy, in the gay humor of his own plays, and in his connection with Dr. Johnson—a view that reveals Goldsmith as a classicist out of touch with the tendencies of the future—wit not dreamer, apostle of common sense rather than disciple of Rousseau. The disagreement does not arise concerning Goldsmith the man, for as to his personality there is substantial unity of opinion, but concerning Goldsmith the author. Here the two positions seem to be irreconcilable, and even a minute study of the sentimental trends in the whole of Goldsmith's work is not likely to resolve the antinomy. Sentiment and sensibility are in turn praised and condemned, luxury justified and attacked, prudence and generosity alternately exalted, so that the final position of the critic as to Goldsmith's sentimentalism will perhaps always depend on the nature of his definitions. It should be possible, however, to reach a clearer understanding of Goldsmith's sentimentalism and a more solid basis for the appreciation of his literary productions by an analysis of the sentimental aspects of his work in the light of a definition sufficiently broad to permit of a somewhat inclusive treatment.