The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-03-31
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.

Sir Edwin Arnold's death in London
last week, removes from the earth-l life
one of the brainiest and most versa
tile members of the literary guild in
England. He lived out his three
score years and ten, making his mark
upon his period as a journalist Of ex
traordinary ability, notably in his long
connection with the London Telegra ph
as one Of the ripest students of Orien
tai literature England has produced
his scholarship in that direction bring
ing him to the principalship Of the
Sanscrit college at Poona, in India.
and lastly, he enjoyed world wide
distinction as the author of that ex
quiste poem. The Light of Asia"
which is richer in beautiful passages
than any other of his poems.
In this epic of Gautama or Buddha,
Sir Edwin Arnold intended to give the
" Orld correct conception of the lofty
character of Buddha and his doctrines.
but, in the exuberance of his active
ina ginaton, he has idealZed the
rio fact. There is no question that Ar
mold, through The Light of Asia"
int in on d
dha cult, and, by the glamour of his
poetic construction. brought many I'M
der it's influence who would previous
~ have SHE'D at the agnOsticsm which
entered into the Buddha's teaching
Buddhas followers, indeed, knowing
that he rejected gods and shrines and
images, are among the most vigorous
of the promoters of such worship,
while exatng Buddha to priority as
an object of worship. In the poem,
Arnold emphasizes Buddha's doc
trine-"There is hope for man only in
man." and makes him say:
Seek naught from the helpless gods
by gift and hymn.
Pray not! within yourselves deliv-
erance must be sought"
Sir Edwin resents the interpreted
ton of "Nirvana" as nothing" as the
issue and crown Of being, but that
view is sustained by very large num-
Der Of eXegetes and translators of
Buddha, who in his utterances quite
distinctly expresses disbelief in the ex-
istence of soul, thought or conscious
ness after death, apparently substitu-
ting transmigration of the moral char
acter, after death, into a new being,
distinct in its identity and influencing
him, throughout his whole life.
But the enchantment of the lines of
The Light of Asia" beguiles one. The
descriptions of the sunny land" over
which arch the brightest of skies, are
fascinating, while ones sympathies are
quckened by the portrayals of the
miseries of the people Buddha sought
to free from the decisions of Brahman-
ism.
Sir Edwards Christian epic "The
Light of the World" falls far below his
masterpiece. He does not appear to
be in sympathy with his subject, al
though there are some very fine pas
sages in the poem. 1t lacks the fine
coloring of The Light of Asia" No
table are the renderings of Sir Edwin
from "Maha bharanta," as THE entry
into heaven"
The strong orientation of Sir Ed
wins mind led him, in his later years
to wed Japanese lady, for which his
sensitive soul suffered through ad-
verse criticism of the marriage, and he
prolonged his stay in Japan on that
account, but latterly he resumed his
work on the London Telegraph, for
which he has done some of the best
literary and editorial work appearing
i'll that journal during the last forty
years.