Arnold, Edwin, sir, 1832-1904

British poet and journalist.

English poet, journalist, and Orientalist.

English author and poet.

Sir Edwin Arnold, English poet. He is best known for his poem "The Light of Asia," about the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. Some credit Arnold's work with playing a role in the popularization of Buddhism in the West (cf. W. Peiris, Edwin Arnold: brief account of his life and contribution to Buddhism).

English author and journalist.

English poet and journalist.

English poet, journalist and Orientalist.

Sir Edwin Arnold was an English author and translator of Asian literature. He was principal of the British government college in Pune, India, then joined the staff of the London Daily Telegraph in 1861, becoming chief editor in 1873. His epic poem, The Light of Asia (1879), recounts the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha. His other writings include poetry and travel books. He was knighted in 1888.

Edwin Arnold was a journalist and poet. He graduated from Oxford and became a teacher; he received a job offer in Bombay, and spent several years in India as a principal, studying eastern languages and culture. After his return to London he became a prominent journalist, writing for the London Daily Telegraph. He also published poetry, notably The Light of Asia, a poetic rendering of the story of Siddhartha, who would become the Buddha. The Light of Asia was popular with readers and critics in England and America, and was widely translated; it was one of the first versions of the story of the Buddha available in English.

English poet.

Sir Edwin Arnold was an English author and translator of Asian literature. He was principal of the British government college in Pune, India, then joined the staff of the London Daily Telegraph in 1861, becoming chief editor in 1873. His epic poem, The light of Asia (1879), recounts the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha. His other writings include poetry and travel books. He was knighted in 1888.

English poet and journalist; born Kent, June 10, 1832; died March 24, 1904.

Poet, journalist and educator.

Born in 1832, Edwin Arnold achieved great success as journalist and poet during the second half of the nineteenth century. He lived and worked in several parts of the British and European colonial empires, including India and Congo. His best-known work is the 1879 poem, The Light of Asia.

Sources: Gale Literary Databases, "Edwin Arnold", (accessed August 22, 2006).

Sir Edwin Arnold was born on 10 June 1832, in Gravesend, near London. During the last five decades of the nineteenth century, Arnold gained great popularity as an influential London journalist and best-selling poet of the Orient.

Arnold attended King's School in Rochester, King's College in London, and, University College, Oxford. In 1852 he won the Newdigate Prize in poetry for The Feast of Belshazzar ; the following year, when he was twenty-one, his first book of verse, Poems, Narrative and Lyrical, was published. In 1854 Arnold married Katharine Elizabeth Biddulph. After leaving Oxford, he taught for two years as a master at King Edward's School, in Birmingham. In 1856, he accepted the position of principal of the government Deccan College at Poona, in the state of Bombay, India. At the same time, he became a fellow of Bombay University, and for the extent of his six-year stay in India, he studied Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.

As a consequence of his wife's illness (Katharine Arnold died in 1864) and the death of their young child, Arnold left India in 1861 to pursue a new career in England. He applied for a position with the London Daily Telegraph and was accepted. Thereafter, until his semiretirement in 1888, he served as news-, editorial-, and leader-writer, subeditor, and editor of the Telegraph .

In 1879 Arnold published the long narrative poem, The Light of Asia; or, the Great Renunciation, a romantic rendering of the experiences and ideas of Siddârtha Gautama, later to become the Buddha. The Light of Asia achieved astounding commercial success in England and America and, in translation, throughout the world.

Arnold died on March 24, 1904.

Excerpted from: Kogan, B.R. (1985). Edwin Arnold. Dictionary of Literary Biography: Victorian Poets After 1850, 35, 9-13.

1854-1856 master of English, King Edward VI School, Birmingham; 1857-1861 principal of the Deccan Sanskrit College, Poona, India; 1861 joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph; 1873-1889 chief editor, Daily Telegraph; 1877 CSI; 1888 KCIE.

Epithet: poet and journalist

Title: Knight