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SIR EDWIN ARNOLD (1832-1904)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 634 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:EDWIN See also:ARNOLD (1832-1904)  , See also:British poet and jour; nalist, was See also:born on the loth of See also:June 1832, and was educated at the See also:King's school, See also:Rochester; King's See also:College, See also:London; and University College, See also:Oxford, where in 1852 he gained the See also:Newdigate See also:prize for a poem on Belshazzar's feast . On leaving Oxford See also:lie became a schoolmaster, and went to See also:India as See also:principal of the See also:government See also:Sanskrit College at See also:Poona, a See also:post which he held during the See also:mutiny of 18J7, when he was able to render services for which he was publicly thanked by See also:Lord See also:Elphinstone in the Bombay See also:council . Returning to See also:England in 1861 he worked as a journalist on the See also:staff of the Daily See also:Telegraph, a newspaper with which he continued to be associated for more than See also:forty years . It was he who, on behalf of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph in See also:conjunction with the New See also:York See also:Herald, arranged for the See also:journey of H . M . See also:Stanley to See also:Africa to discover the course of the See also:Congo, and Stanley named after him a See also:mountain to the See also:north-See also:east of See also:Albert See also:Edward See also:Nyanza . See also:Arnold must also be credited with the first See also:idea of a See also:great See also:trunk See also:line traversing the entire See also:African See also:continent, for in 1874 he first employed the phrase " a Cape to See also:Cairo railway " subsequently popularized by See also:Cecil See also:Rhodes . It was, however, as a poet that he was best known to his contemporaries . The See also:Light of See also:Asia appeared in 1879 and won an immediate success, going through numerous See also:editions both in England and See also:America . It is an See also:Indian epic, dealing with the See also:life and teaching of See also:Buddha, which are expounded with much See also:wealth of See also:local See also:colour and not a little felicity of versification . The poem contains many lines of unquestionable beauty; ' and its immediate popularity was rather increased than diminished by the twofold See also:criticism to which it was subjected . On the one See also:hand it was held by See also:Oriental scholars to give a false impression of Buddhist See also:doctrine; while, on the other, the suggested See also:analogy between Sakyamuni and See also:Christ offended the, See also:taste of some devout Christians .

The latter criticism probably suggested to Arnold the idea of attempting a second narrative poem of which the central figure should be the founder of See also:

Christianity, as the founder of See also:Buddhism had been that of the first . But though The Light of the See also:World (1891), in which this idea 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 attained by The Light of Asia . Arnold's other principal volumes of See also:poetry were Indian See also:Song of Songs (1875), Pearls of the Faith (1883), The Song See also:Celestial (1885), With Sadi in the See also:Garden (1888), Potiphar's Wife (1892) and Adzuma (1893) . In his later years Arnold resided for some See also:time in See also:Japan, and his third, wife was a See also:Japanese See also:lady . In Seas and Lands (1891) and Japonica (1892) he gives an interesting study of Japanese life . ` He received the See also:order of C.S.I. on the occasion of the See also:proclamation of See also:Queen See also:Victoria as empress of India in 1877, and in 1888 was created K.C.I.E . He also possessed decorations conferred by the rulers of Japan, See also:Persia, See also:Turkey and See also:Siam . See also:Sir See also:Edwin Arnold died on the 24th of See also:March 1904 .

End of Article: SIR EDWIN ARNOLD (1832-1904)
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