Oliver Goldsmith | |
Birth Date: | 1794 |
Birth Place: | St. Andrews, Colony of New Brunswick |
Death Date: | 1861 |
Death Place: | Liverpool, England |
Occupation: | poet |
Oliver Goldsmith (1794–1861) was a Canadian poet born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. In 1822 he wrote some verses for an amateur theatre in Halifax.[1] He is best known for The Rising Village, which appeared in 1825. It was at once the first book-length poem published by a native English-Canadian and the first book-length publication in England by a Canadian poet.[2] Furthermore, his Autobiography is the first autobiography of a native Canadian writer.[3] He is not to be confused with his great-uncle Oliver Goldsmith, to whose celebrated poem The Deserted Village The Rising Village is a response.
In 1944 his name was added by the Canadian Government to its list of Persons of National Historic Significance.[4]