Paperback, 133 pages
English language
Published April 14, 2003 by Laurier Books Ltd. /AES.
Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Originally published in 1923; this book has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.
The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.
Set in a timeless Middle Eastern town, written with the voice of the King James Bible, but speaking with modern reflectiveness on wide topics, valuable both as elegant poetry and tender teachings detailing a gentle and balanced life.
Gibran’s book is a modern classic collection of wisdom. The metaphors here largely reflect Christian symbolism, but diverge quite strongly from Abrahamic faiths, sometimes seeming to have more in common with eastern traditions. Gibran’s Lebanese Christian upbringing is evident here, and it’s worth the read.
But, be warned, it’s better to take your time with it. If you read too quickly, you’ll miss a lot.
This little holy book is the kind of book you want to keep on your bedside table all the time. Brimming with poetry and spirituality all while remaining in the most sincere humbleness, it leaves you filled with love for the world, for humanity, and for yourself.
“And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you in these houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that spans the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?”
I feel like I'm supposed to love this book, but it just didn't do much for me. At its best the writing is quite lyrical and there are some wonderfully quotable passages, but taken as a whole it felt like Gibran had tried to find universals among world religions and that road had just led him to rather obvious truisms.
Relevant for all times. Beautifully written, no wonder it is such a celebrated book. For every poem there is atleast one line that makes your heart actually skip a beat by the poetic way Gibran has articulared.
The book contains all things wise and beautiful.
The meditation on work really sings to me right now. Beautiful thoughts throughout this work on the spiritual side of friendship, pain, and even of walking... Go barefoot sometimes; the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
It's pretty and it speaks to me.
