Waley, Arthur David

(1889-1966)

   Born at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, he was educated at Rugby School and graduated in classics from King's College, Cambridge, in 1910, but losing sight in one eye curtailed his studies. Rest and travel on the Continent saved the other eye and he became a fluent linguist. From 1913 to 1929 he was assistant keeper of Oriental prints and manuscripts at the British Museum, during which time he taught himself Chinese and Japanese, partly to help catalogue the paintings in the museum's collection. Thereafter he devoted his life to literature. His awards were: honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1945); Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1952); the Queen's Medal for Poetry (1953); and Companion of Honor (1956). He died in London and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. Some of his prose and verse translations of Chinese and Japanese authors: The Tale of Genji (1921-1933); The Pillow Book of Sei ShÉnagon (1928); Monkey (1942). Some of his poems: "Life-Parting," "Separation," "The Two Red Towers," "The Valley Wind," "The Waters of Lung-t'ou," "To a Portrait Painter Who Desired Him to Sit," "To His Wife," "Winter Night."

   Sources: Art and Nature: An Illustrated Anthology of Nature Poetry. Kate Farrell, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. Chinese Poems. Arthur Waley, ed. Unwin Paperbacks, 1946. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Japanese Poetry: The 'Uta' by Arthur Waley. Percy Lund, Humphries and Co., 1956. Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD). Microsoft Corporation, 2006. One Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Translated by Arthur Waley. Constable and Co., 1962. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Translation of Dao De Jing: The Way and Its Power, The Naturalist, Individualist and Politic Doctrine of Lao-tse Exhibited in 81 Poetic and Obscure Texts. Tr. Waley (en), Lau (en), Julien (fr) and Wilhelm (de) (http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=Daodejing&no=6). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).