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.
There鈥檚 a lot to be said about modern romantics. The trend has been to be 鈥榖igger鈥�, bigger wedding proposals, with more choreographed dances and the most views on YouTube, and yet as much as we can try to outdo each other, nothing will ever beat the honest love letter.
Mary Haskell met Kahlil Gibran, an immigrant artist, at his first exhibition in 1904, what followed can only be described as love, not a Hallmark clich茅 but a perfect expression of the limitless and utterly devastating effects of love- true love.
Although Gibran was 10 years the junior of Haskell the letters sent aren鈥檛 the scrawled ramblings of an infatuated teen, but an honest and often confronting glimpse into their relationship, with the tribulations of distance, Haskell鈥檚 marriage to another man and eventually Gibran鈥檚 death in 1931.
My favourite line throughout the thousands of letters is given early on in a 1908 letter, with Gibran stating 鈥淲hen I am unhappy, dear Mary, I read your letters鈥� They remind me of my true self. They make me overlook all that is not high and beautiful in life.鈥�
Young Casanova鈥檚 take note. This is how romance is done.