Editing Edwin Arnold (section)

==Biography==
Arnold was born at [[Gravesend]], Kent, the second son of a [[Sussex]] magistrate, Robert Coles Arnold. He grew up at Southchurch Wick, a farm in [[Southchurch]], [[Essex]], and was educated at [[The King's School, Rochester|King's School, Rochester]]; [[King's College London]]; and [[University College, Oxford]], where he won the [[Newdigate prize]] for poetry on the subject of "The Feast of Belshazzar" in 1852.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p10-AQAAIAAJ ''The Feast of Belshazzar: A Prize Poem Recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June 23 1852], Francis Macpherson, Oxford</ref> He became a schoolmaster, at [[King Edward's School, Birmingham]], and in 1856 went to [[India]] as Principal of the [[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute|Deccan College]] at [[Poona]], a post which he held for seven years, which includes a period during the [[Indian Mutiny|mutiny]] of 1857, when he was able to render services for which he was publicly thanked by [[John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone|Lord Elphinstone]] in the Bombay Council.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}  Here he received the bias towards, and gathered material for, his future works.

Returning to England in 1861 he worked as a journalist on the staff of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', a newspaper with which he continued to be associated as editor for more than forty years, and of which he later became editor-in-chief.<ref>[http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/light_of_asia.htm Notices of 'The Light of Asia'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902193519/http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/light_of_asia.htm |date=2 September 2018 }} www.phx-ult-lodge.org.</ref> It was he who, on behalf of the proprietors of ''The Daily Telegraph'' in conjunction with the ''[[New York Herald]]'', arranged the journey of [[Henry Morton Stanley|H. M. Stanley]] to Africa to discover the course of the [[Congo River]], and Stanley named after him a mountain to the north-east of [[Lake Edward|Albert Edward Nyanza]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Arnold must also be credited with the first idea of a great trunk line traversing the entire African continent, for in 1874 he first employed the phrase "[[Cape-Cairo railway|Cape to Cairo railway]]" subsequently popularised by [[Cecil Rhodes]].

It was, however, as a poet that he was best known to his contemporaries. The literary task which he set before him was the interpretation in English verse of the life and philosophy of the East. His chief work with this object is ''[[The Light of Asia]]'', or ''The Great Renunciation'', a poem of eight books in blank verse which was translated into various languages such as [[Hindi]] (tr. by [[Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla]]).

In it, in Arnold's own words, he attempted 'by the medium of an imaginary Buddhist votary to depict the life and character and indicate the philosophy of that noble hero and reformer, [[Gautama Buddha|Prince Gautama of India]], founder of Buddhism'.<ref>The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000 Pp 42</ref> It appeared in 1879 and was an immediate success, going through numerous editions in England and America, though its permanent place in literature is quite uncertain. It is an Indian [[epic poem|epic]], dealing with the life and teaching of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]. The poem was subjected to two lines of criticism: it was held by Oriental scholars to give a false impression of Buddhist doctrine; while, on the other, the suggested analogy between [[Gautama Buddha|Sakyamuni]] and Jesus offended the taste of some devout Christians.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The latter criticism probably suggested to Arnold the idea of attempting a second narrative poem of which the central figure should be Jesus, the founder of Christianity, as the founder of Buddhism had been that of the first. But though ''The Light of the World'' (1891), in which this took shape, had considerable poetic merit, it lacked the novelty of theme and setting which had given the earlier poem much of its attractiveness; and it failed to repeat the success gained by ''The Light of Asia''. Arnold's other principal volumes of poetry were ''Indian Song of Songs'' (1875), ''Pearls of the Faith'' (1883), ''[[The Song Celestial]]'' (1885), ''With Sa'di in the Garden'' (1888), ''Potiphar's Wife'' (1892), ''Adzuma'',{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}  or ''The Japanese Wife'' (1893), and "Indian Poetry" (1904).

In "[[The Song Celestial]]" Sir Edwin produced a well-known poetic rendering of the sacred [[Hindu]] scripture [[Bhagavad Gita]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Arnold|first=Sir Edwin|title=Bhagavad-Gita : or The song celestial : translated from the Sanskrit text|year=2005|publisher=Digireads.com Publishing|location=Stilwell, KS|isbn=1420926012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WnSkmAEACAAJ}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:Edwin Arnold 31 Bolton Gardens blue plaque.jpg|thumb|Blue plaque, 31 Bolton Gardens, Kensington, London]]