Critical Review & Summary : The Prophet

Description

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is one of the most distinctive works of twentieth-century spiritual and philosophical literature. Published in 1923, it takes the form of a poetic spiritual dialogue rather than a conventional novel or philosophical treatise. Its central figure, Almustafa, has lived for twelve years in the fictional city of Orphalese. At last, the ship that will carry him back to his homeland appears. Before he leaves, however, the inhabitants ask him to speak about the fundamental realities of human existence. Their questions become the organizing principle of the entire book. Almitra, the seeress who first recognized and believed in him, asks him to reveal what he has learned about that which lies between birth and death.

What follows is a sequence of lyrical meditations on subjects that range from intimate relationships to social institutions and ultimately to spiritual questions. Gibran considers love, marriage, parenthood, work, economic exchange, crime, law, freedom, suffering, education, friendship, prayer, beauty, religion, and death. Although these topics appear separate, they are connected by a consistent philosophical vision: human life is fundamentally unified, and many of the distinctions people create—between joy and sorrow, reason and passion, body and spirit, individual and community, life and death—are ultimately partial perspectives on a larger whole.