Kahlil Gibran (Arabic: 噩亘乇丕賳 禺賱賷賱 噩亘乇丕賳) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer. Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero. He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again, especially in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.
丕賱兀噩賳丨丞 丕賱賲鬲賰爻乇丞 = The Broken Wings, Kahlil Gibran
The Broken Wings is a poetic novel written by Khalil Gibran and first published in Arabic in 1912.
It is a tale of tragic love, set in turn-of-the-century Beirut. A young woman, Selma Karamy is betrothed to a prominent religious man's nephew.
The protagonist, a young man, perhaps even Gibran himself, falls in love with this woman. They begin to meet in secret, however they are discovered, and Selma is forbidden to leave her house, breaking their hopes and hearts.
"Then she looked at me as if she regretted what she had said and tried to take away those words from my ears by magic of her eyes."
鈥淣o, no, the moments which united us are greater than centuries, and the light that illuminated our spirits is stronger than the dark; and if the tempest separates us on this rough ocean, the waves will unite us on the calm shore鈥︹€�
The Broken Wings shows us how tragedy will always be the result of divine, pure love being shackled to the conventions of society. It illuminates the flaws within a system that sacrifices true emotions for the maintenance of class and gender hierarchies.
Gibran is a master of weaving together beautiful images in his writing. He indulges in natural, heavenly metaphors to portray the intense emotions of the characters and to create an atmosphere of poetic thoughtfulness.
This story elevates love to transcend the corruptions of humanity and bloom into a spiritual experience.
(Reread: this time it really moved me and deserves a full five stars. The full force of love and grief was overwhelming)
For me "The Broken Wings" is not only a tale of love, separation and agony, but also on the stronghold of religious contractors on the common public and the contraptions they use to play with the credulity of the innocent and gain power!
After drenching into Gibran's heart-wrenching quotes on love, separation and meaning of life, I felt his writing is majorly inspired by the "Songs Of Solomon" from the Bible. As King Solomon mentions the gist of life in few words, Everything is useless under the Sun, and at end everything dissipates, Gibran has also ornated the novel on the same lines.
My poetic soul was brimming with emotions endless, as this Lebanese-American author, dauntlessly offers the world with a story of true love, which changes one's life journey, molds the youth and becomes a prop for the old age. How love takes the shape of sorrow eventually !
The book begins with Gibran defining his tryst with solitude during his youth. It wasn't the lack of friends or amusement, that accounted his propensity for loneliness, but the innate proclivity towards solitude since childhood carried forward to the days of youth, made him to grapple with the sorrow of solitude throughout his life.
Here, he also mentions the pros and cons of solitude, where on one hand solitude is the ally of sorrow, but is also a companion of spiritual exaltation.
Gibran's eighteenth year, was the year of change which marked his later understanding of life and vicissitudes of mankind. When he was in Beirut, he was invited by a friend during the month of Nisan. It was here where he meets Mr. Karamy. They eventually discover that Gibran's father and Mr. Karamy were childhood friends. Mr. Karamy reminisces his days of youth with Gibran.
I adore how Gibran relates to the loquacity of Mr. Karamy as - "An old man likes to return in memory to the days of youth like a stranger longs to go back to his own country".
Post this meeting, Gibran visits Mr. Karamy's house on his invitation where he ends up meeting Mr. Karamy's daughter Selma, his love, his muse !
Love the fact, he names this tempestuous chapter on meetup with Selma as "Entrance to the Shrine"
Gibran uses mind-boggling sentences admiring her beauty. My forever poetic soul was enamored with few descriptions like -" Her beauty was like a gift of poetry", "Sorrow linked her spirit and mine", "she wore a cloak of deep sorrow through life, which increased her strange beauty and dignity"
As the story progresses, a day comes when Mr. Karamy is invited by a Bishop who wants Selma to be married to his nephew. Selma , the only child of the wealthy Mr. Karamy, is the most sought after bait due to her wealth and not beauty.
In Lebanon, no Christian could oppose his religious head. I felt, this story is not only about love but also about religious contractors and the way they play the game of "power and want".
Post Selma's marriage to the nephew, Gibran and Selma kept meeting in a secluded temple between the city of Beirut and Lebanon, remembering the past, discussing the present and fearing the future.
Selma's husband stays oblivious to Selma's routine, as he stays in the company of other needy girls satiating his own need. Five years post marriage, Selma loses her life post childbirth.
Where Selma is buried, Gibran's heart gets buried in the same ditch.
It is indeed sad to see that the contractors of religion, even in today's era, play with the credulity of human beings, with their devotion, faith and fear.
I would like to give 3 stars to this beautiful work, primarily because I found a lot of redundancy in his work with King Solomon's and secondly I liked the freshness and depth of "The Prophet" far more! Warning - Only someone who can swim in the vast ocean of poetry, spirituality and sorrow, can understand the depth of "The Broken Wings". This book is not for the flippant readers !