Gibran, a poet who hid exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse.

[PSRemeshChandra]

Kahlil Gibran was a U.S- Arabic- Lebanese poet who thrilled the world with exotic tunes and captivating ideas common to all Arab and Persian poets. This wonder that was Gibran brought excellent imagery unheard of and unthought-of before to the pages of English poetry. His poems have been a source of unending inspiration to poets and poetry appreciating public alike. He is widely accepted as a writer of what is called free verse, blank verse or prose-poems. Considering the sweetness and mellowness of his lines, it is improbable that his mind had not been impregnated with some heavenly music at the time he wrote those lines. His poems can be compared only to such brilliant and musically inspired Persian poets as Gulchin, Sana'i, Rumi, Nizami, Jami, Hafiz, Amir Khusrau, Firdausi and of cource Omar Khayyam. So it was only natural there was a hilarious tune concealed behind each song and poem written by Kahlil Gibran. In almost all his poems can be found traces of slight reference to brilliant geniuses being ignored, neglected or condemned by the dull wits, half wits and the jealous of his times. Thus we come to guess that Kahlil Gibran hid his exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse so that the dull wits and half wits of his times won't attempt to sing them. Does anyone agree?


It has been a challenge to music and poetry appreciators all over the world to rediscover the tunes hid by Gibran in his songs. A Dialectical Metaphysicist himself, some uncanny mystic fate surrounded and enveloped his poems which made them immune to unripe persons. Whoever went after Gibran to find out the hidden music in his poems had to suffer and undergo the same misery, poverty, isolation, neglect and supression depicted by the poet in his poems. That is why those tunes and versifications which were discovered earlier never came out to the printer's press. The strike of fate on those unfortunates who attempted to recast his poems earlier might have been such forceful and complete that they never could have risen again in their lives. Recasting Gibran poems to bring out the rich musical content in them is easy, but surviving and surpassing the fatal strikes extended from the mystic hallo surrounding each poem is not at all easy. No one escapes unscathed when they are dealing with Kahlil Gibran poems. When Gibran in one of his poems wrote about manuscript pages of the dying poet blown away to future generations by the wind, no one thought it to be a key to the mysticism surrounding the real life of this magical poet. Why this mysticism supposed to surround his poems?

[YesNo]

What do you recommend from his collected works?

[PSRemeshChandra]

Tears And Laughter is one of the most finished and musically most perfect works of Kahlil Gibran. The following songs from this book have been found and proved to be recommendable for reading, learning and singing.

1.Creation of Man.
2.Creation of Woman.
3.A Poet's Death is his Life.
4.The Song of the Rain.
5.The Song of the Wave.
6. A Lover's Call.

These songs have since been slightly edited and recast in the true poetic form, available on the Internet now. Happy to help. Myself an admirer of Gibran.

[YesNo]

Tears And Laughter is one of the most finished and musically most perfect works of Kahlil Gibran. The following songs from this book have been found and proved to be recommendable for reading, learning and singing.

1.Creation of Man.
2.Creation of Woman.
3.A Poet's Death is his Life.
4.The Song of the Rain.
5.The Song of the Wave.
6. A Lover's Call.

These songs have since been slightly edited and recast in the true poetic form, available on the Internet now. Happy to help. Myself an admirer of Gibran.

I found these in The Collected Works, but the book was called "A Tear and a Smile" in that collection.

Here is something from "The Song of the Rain" that I thought was nice:


I weep and the hillocks smile;
I am abased and the flowers are lifted.


Do you have a link to the poems "recast in the true poetic form"?

[PSRemeshChandra]

http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2011/01/song-of-rain-poem-psremesh.html

http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2011/01/poets-death-is-his-life-poem-from.html

http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2010/10/song-of-wave-poem-psremesh.html

http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2010/10/creation-of-woman-poem-psremesh.html

http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2010/09/creation-of-man-poem-psremesh.html

A Lover's Call has not yet been published online but will be soon.
Detailed studies on all the above poems of Kahlil Gibran are published in Wiki Nut.

Hope these links would be useful.

[YesNo]

The poems do differ from what I see in The Collected Works (Knopf). I think this volume was originally written in Arabic and so these look like an alternate translation at least from the English perspective. I assume there was some form changed in the original Arabic?

I've read scattered pieces from The Collected Works and I am amazed at how clearly Gibran writes and with an authority that makes me want to re-read for deeper meaning.

[PSRemeshChandra]

The few poems slightly edited and recast are meant to facilitate just the easy and unhampered singing and recitation of Gibran poems. They also have the humble aim to serve as light introductions to his monumental and more serious works. We will wonder how simply and authoritatively he writes about deep subjects and philosophies. The more immersed we are in his poems, the easier it would become for us to throw away many unnecessary poets whom we carry on our shoulders. There is a vein of dialectical philosophy going through all his songs in Tears And Laughter, for they make us laugh and weep at the same time. That is what they are meant to do, as the very title of the book indicates and signifies. I felt 'Tears And Laughter' more poetic in English, than 'A Tear and a Laughter'. The world has not yet begun to understand, appreciate, approve, enjoy and love Gibran poems enough.

[Mohamed krafess]

Khalil gibran is considered to be one of the best artists in the 20th century who were able to describe the depth of words.when you read his creative productions you feel that the man is not only using words to tighten the sense of man's existence on earth and in the meaning of life but trying to fascinate us with the secrets of our life details.
To read this artist, you should eventually possess the logisitc means to dive into his meaningful depths....

[PSRemeshChandra]

It is indeed true that reading Kahlil Gibran poems will crush and thrust our minds to such extreme that we will begin to think what usefulness and interest is there in living in this world. But going to the next lines and stanzas we will totally forget what negative thoughts on life had we been having moments earlier. Such a magnificent and thrilled life would he be portraying next that we will begin to wish to live in this world for ever. Gibran in fact is not reflecting his own mind, but portraying the dialectical sensations and feelings passing through the world's mind, recording them for posterity like a historian. It was an English version of Tears And Laughter that was used for recasting in which there was nothing noted as to it being a translation. He most probably wrote this book in the English language. It shall not be forgotten that he was a U.S national and knew excellent English. It is not known whether he wrote it in Arabic also.

[YesNo]

I was reading some of the stories in The Collected Works and found a story in The Forerunner called "Dynasties" interesting.

It amazes me how short these stories are.

In this story a king finds out that his enemy died the previous day and the next day his son is born. He was overjoyed with both of these events until a prophet told him that his enemy was reincarnated as his son.

[PSRemeshChandra]

That is what is called Nemesis.

[Buh4Bee]

Excuse me, for appears to disrupt the flow of your conversation, but I wanted to post this favor section from The Prophet. He is wonderful.

Children

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

[PSRemeshChandra]

Dear jersie is not disrupting any flow of conversation but adding another flower to the deity to whom Yes No and Mohamed krafess are adding theirs. The only aim of this thread is to bring out how musical and philosophical Kahlil Gibran's mind was, which yet has to be elucidated through those who have read and thought about him much and whose presence this forum is fortunate enough to have. Gibran fans and appreciators are spread all over the world and a considerable number of them certainly are members of this forum. They will have something savoury to tell, once they happen to pass through these pages. We are enlivening the interest in Gibran. The song Children from The Prophet is a fine philosophical creation. The theory discussed here on the side is that, once rearranged in the true poetic form which is very easy, Children as any other song of his would become a very fine musical creation, so fine that all will have to believe Gibran wrote it in the true poetic form but rearranged lines in the blank verse to hide his tune. It can also be believed that he did make true poetic versions of what he wrote in blank verse which were either lost or destroyed by him. Considering the frantic situations he created in many of his songs, anything can be expected of this poet.

[YesNo]

Is there a meter you were following in recasting the poems or a song melody, PSRemeshChandra?

I also liked the poem that jersea quoted.

[PSRemeshChandra]

I was not following a metre, but plain common song melody as Yes No hinted. I tried ardently to sing the song two or three times, thrilled by the exoticism of the lines. The instant I thought the poet on the other side of the ocean of time embraced and kissed me, the lines rearranged themselves and the blue print for the tune was revealed to me. The goose bumps all over on my body marked the exchange of energy and told me that the original tune has been unlocked and revealed to me. It was as if the kind poet looking across centuries pitied me and gave the key to me. It was such simple. My practical experience in this field now has taught me that fast rhythm and the unorthodox boldness to ignore unnecessary words is the key. I very much wished to recast and sing songs from the book The Prophet, especially the song, Of Children quoted by jersea, but withdrew from the attempt for fear of present inability to withstand the consequences from the song, sure to happen in my personal life. It was as if the poet ordered a large and bold NO. Someday I or someone else will do it. Once I had been thinking anyone can do anything on a poem, but now I am wise to know that approbation has to come across the realms of time.

[YesNo]

I was not following a metre, but plain common song melody as Yes No hinted. I tried ardently to sing the song two or three times, thrilled by the exoticism of the lines. The instant I thought the poet on the other side of the ocean of time embraced and kissed me, the lines rearranged themselves and the blue print for the tune was revealed to me. The goose bumps all over on my body marked the exchange of energy and told me that the original tune has been unlocked and revealed to me. It was as if the kind poet looking across centuries pitied me and gave the key to me. It was such simple. My practical experience in this field now has taught me that fast rhythm and the unorthodox boldness to ignore unnecessary words is the key. I very much wished to recast and sing songs from the book The Prophet, especially the song, Of Children quoted by jersea, but withdrew from the attempt for fear of present inability to withstand the consequences from the song, sure to happen in my personal life. It was as if the poet ordered a large and bold NO. Someday I or someone else will do it. Once I had been thinking anyone can do anything on a poem, but now I am wise to know that approbation has to come across the realms of time.
I think that is how good poetry is created--by going to "the other side of the ocean of time".

Maybe someday you would get someone to sing or chant the words so we can hear it. The youtube links I found had music in the background, but the words were written out to be read not heard.

From what little I know about Gibran, I understand that only this volume of poetry was originally written in Arabic. The others were written in English. Maybe that is why you heard the "No".

[BiggyBigDog]

Sweet Honey in the Rock, the amazing DC women's vocal ensemble, created this musical version of On Children some 20-30 years ago -- I used to see them sing it when my daughter was little. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA

And for the children's point of view, or pre-adult at least, here are some self-conscious girls singing an incredibly sophisticated, unbelievably beautiful version of the same song. It makes me cry to hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srm2QtsqUyM Maybe because I'm getting older.

[YesNo]

Sweet Honey in the Rock, the amazing DC women's vocal ensemble, created this musical version of On Children some 20-30 years ago -- I used to see them sing it when my daughter was little. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA

And for the children's point of view, or pre-adult at least, here are some self-conscious girls singing an incredibly sophisticated, unbelievably beautiful version of the same song. It makes me cry to hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srm2QtsqUyM Maybe because I'm getting older.
They sounded good. I liked both versions. "You can strive to be like them but you cannot make them just like you" is a line that will likely stick with me.

[Buh4Bee]

To a certain extent, I can understand the deep personal temporal bond or attachment, one can experience when really jiving with what is being reading. It becomes hard to separate the personality of the writer from the words on the page.