Writer Oliver Goldsmith whose statue stands in front of Trinity College Dublin is the subject for this Sunday Miscellany piece.

Irish novelist, playwright and poet Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) is the subject of this piece by Dympna Murray Fennell for 'Sunday Miscellany'.

The essay pays tribute to Oliver Goldsmith with a description of his statue which stands at the front of Trinity
College in Dublin. The statue by sculptor John Henry Foley depicts Goldsmith standing engrossed in a book with pen poised.

There he stands in all his bronze perfection on a perfect square of manicured grass at the central crossroads of the capital, probably the best vantage point in all of Dublin. 

The son of a Longford Parson who came up to Trinity College as a poor scholar to study law and theology and who eventually became one of the college's best-known alumni. However, in reality, Oliver Goldsmith was not quite the model student portrayed in the statue. 

In fact he graduated at the bottom of his class.

He enjoyed the good life as a student and spent a lot of time hanging around Smock Alley Theatre. Upon graduation, he found himself jobless and return to the parsonage in Longford leaving behind city life.  

A statue of Goldsmith on the Main Street of Ballymahon depicts "a snub nose country lad". On returning home he found no offers of work at the aged twenty three he left his homestead forever. 

With sponsorship from an uncle Oliver Goldsmith went on to study medicine in Edinburgh. However, he abandoned the course and went travelling across Europe before returning to London penniless. He found work in London as a literary hack but squandered his earnings. 

Goldsmith's luck changed when he encountered Samuel Johnson and other leading writers at the Temple Coffee House. He began to write seriously and published his first novel 'The Vicar of Wakefield' (1766) which saved him from the Debtor's Prison for non-payment of rent.  His experience of poverty gave him empathy with the poor and inspired his poem 'The Deserted Village' (1770), a social commentary condemning rural depopulation and the injustice of excessive wealth. His memories of the places and people he knew in Ireland came to life in a nostalgic epic story which brought him success on the literary scene.

The lad from Longford was the toast of literary London.

Goldsmith died at the age of forty-five and received the ultimate honour, a plaque in Westminster Abbey.

This episode of 'Sunday Miscellany' was broadcast on 27 May 2012. 

'Sunday Miscellany' was first broadcast on RTÉ Radio One in 1968.