The Works of Sir William Jones

A renowned Enlightenment polymath, Sir William Jones (1746-94) was a lawyer, translator and poet who wrote authoritatively on politics, comparative linguistics and oriental literature. Known initially for his Persian translations and political radicalism, Jones became further celebrated for his study and translation of ancient Sanskrit texts following his appointment to the supreme court in Calcutta in 1783. He spent the next eleven years introducing Europe to the mysticism and rationality of Hinduism through works such as his nine 'Hymns' to Hindu deities and his translation of the Sanskrit classic Sacontalá, influencing Romantic writers from William Blake to August Wilhelm Schlegel. Volume 10 of his thirteen-volume works, published in 1807, contains Jones' important pre-India poetry and essays. These include his essays 'On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative' and 'On the Poetry of the Eastern Nations' (1772), which anticipate Romantic themes of the sublime, as well as his Alcaic 'Odes', which establish Jones' radical political identity.