Editing Edwin Arnold

{{Short description|English poet and journalist (1832–1904)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{about||Arnold's son of the same name, the author of Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation and Phra the Phoenician|Edwin Lester Arnold|the British herpetologist|Edwin Nicholas Arnold}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_prefix = [[Sir]]
| name             = Edwin Arnold
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|KCIE|CSI|size=100%}}
| image            = Picture of Edwin Arnold.jpg
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1832|6|10}}
| birth_place      = [[Gravesend]], England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1904|3|24|1832|6|10}}
| death_place      = [[London]], England
| education        = {{Plainlist|
* [[King's School, Rochester]]
* [[King's College London]]
* [[University College, Oxford]]
}}
| occupation       = {{Cslist|Journalist|editor|poet}}
| notableworks     = ''[[The Light of Asia]]''
| signature        = Signature of Edwin Arnold.jpg
| children         = 6, including [[Edwin Lester Arnold]]
}}

'''Sir Edwin Arnold''' {{post-nominals|KCIE|CSI}} (10 June 1832 – 24 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist. He is best known for his 1879 work, ''[[The Light of Asia]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1904-03-24 |title=Sir Edward Arnold Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/03/25/archives/sir-edwin-arnold-dead-author-of-the-light-of-asia-was-seventytwo.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-06-23 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Born in [[Gravesend]], Kent, Arnold's early education at [[King's School, Rochester]], and later at [[King's College London]] and [[University College, Oxford]], laid the groundwork for his career. Initially a schoolmaster and later the Principal of the [[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute|Deccan College]] in India, Arnold's experiences abroad influenced his literary endeavors. He became associated with ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', serving as its editor-in-chief, and facilitated [[H. M. Stanley]]'s exploration of Africa. Arnold's poem, ''The Light of Asia'', an exploration of Buddhist philosophy through the life of [[Gautama|Prince Gautama]], earned him widespread acclaim. Despite the success of this work, his later attempts to emulate its triumph with ''The Light of the World'' centered on [[Jesus Christ]], faced mixed reception. Arnold's personal life was marked by multiple marriages, including one to a Japanese woman, reflecting his deep engagement with Japanese culture as evidenced in his writings. An advocate for [[vegetarianism]], he played a significant role in the West London Food Reform Society alongside figures like [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. Arnold died at the age of 77, in London, in 1904.

==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]]

==Personal life==

Sir Edwin was married three times.<ref>The Marshall, Michigan, Expounder; 1 April 1904</ref> His first wife was Katherine Elizabeth Biddulph, of London, who died in 1864. Next he married Jennie Channing of Boston, who died in 1889. In his later years Arnold resided for some time in Japan, and his third wife, [[Tama Kurokawa]], was Japanese. In ''Seas and Lands'' (1891)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Arnold|first=Sir Edwin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GO9AAQAAMAAJ|title=Seas and Lands|date=1894|publisher=Longmans, Green|language=en}}</ref> and ''Japonica'' (1891) he gives an interesting study of Japanese life. He was appointed [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]] on the occasion of the proclamation of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] as [[Emperor of India|Empress of India]] in 1877, and was knighted in 1888 (as [[Order of the Indian Empire|KCIE]]). He was also honoured with [[Civil awards and decorations|decoration]]s by the rulers of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], [[Persian Empire|Persia]], [[Turkey]] and [[Thailand|Siam]]. One of his six children was the novelist [[Edwin Lester Arnold]], born in 1857.

He was a founder member, together with [[Anagarika Dharmapala]], of the [[Mahabodhi Society]] of India and was a close associate of [[Weligama Sri Sumangala]].<ref name="book">{{Cite book|last=Oxford University|title=Trübner's American and oriental literary record|publisher=Oxford University|year=1879|pages=120}}</ref> A [[blue plaque]] unveiled in 1931 commemorates Arnold at 31 Bolton Gardens in South Kensington.<ref name='EngHet'>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/blue-plaques/search/arnold-sir-edwin-1832-1904|title=ARNOLD, SIR EDWIN (1832–1904)|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref>

Arnold was a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]]. He was vice-president of the West London Food Reform Society, a vegetarian group based in [[Bayswater]], founded in 1891, with [[Josiah Oldfield]] as president and [[Mahatma Gandhi]] as secretary.<ref>Wolpert, Stanley. (2001). ''Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi''. Oxford University Press. p. 22. {{ISBN|0-19-513060-X}}</ref><ref>Gandhi, Rajmohan. (2008). ''Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire''. University of California Press. p. 42. {{ISBN|978-0-520-25570-8}}</ref> The Society was short-lived and dissolved as soon as Gandhi left Bayswater.<ref>Ghose, Sankar. (1991). ''Mahatma Gandhi''. Allied Publishers Limited. p. 18. {{ISBN|81-7023-205-8}}</ref> He also served as vice-president of the [[London Vegetarian Society]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arnold, Edwin |url=https://www.theosophy.world/encyclopedia/arnold-edwin |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=Theosophy World}}</ref> after being invited by Gandhi.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gandhi |first1=Mahatma |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyst00gand/page/63 |title=Gandhi: An Autobiography |year=1993 |isbn=0-8070-5909-9 |edition=Beacon Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyst00gand/page/66 66]|publisher=Beacon Press }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle= Arnold, Sir Edwin|volume=2|page=634}}
* {{Cite SBDEL|wstitle= Arnold, Sir Edwin}}

==Further reading==
* Brooks Wright, ''Interpreter of Buddhism to the West: Sir Edwin Arnold''.
*  Katherine Lilian & Constance Arnold (ed.) [https://archive.org/details/edwinarnoldbirth00arno/page/n7/mode/2up ''Edwin Arnold birthday book''] (1884)

==External links==
{{Sister project links|commonscat=yes|wikt=no|n=no|author=yes|b=no|v=no}}
*[http://www.bharatadesam.com/spiritual/bhagavadgita_edwin_arnold/bhagavad_gita_edwin_arnold.php The Bhagavad Gita – A poetic rendering By Sir Edwin Arnold]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=889}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Arnold}}
* {{Librivox author |id=875}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
*[http://www.ivu.org/history/europe19b/arnold.html International Vegetarian Union: Edwin Arnold]

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{{succession box | before=[[Thornton Leigh Hunt]] | title=Editor of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''| years=1873–1888 | after=[[John le Sage]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Edwin}}
[[Category:1832 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English poets]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:British scholars of Buddhism]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:English Buddhists]]
[[Category:English Indologists]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:English newspaper editors]]
[[Category:English scholars and academics]]
[[Category:English vegetarianism activists]]
[[Category:Epic poets]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:People associated with the Vegetarian Society]]
[[Category:People educated at King's School, Rochester]]
[[Category:People from Gravesend, Kent]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Kent]]
[[Category:People from Westcliff-on-Sea]]