Gibran Khalil Gibran

موضوع: Gibran Khalil Gibran الخميس يناير 05, 2012 11:10 pm

Gibran Khalil Gibran

*Biography*

Khalil Gibran: His Life and World, by Jean Gibran and Khalil Gibran, the authors write: "The date of my birth is unknown”, Khalil Gibran once said. In an isolated village like his birthplace of Bsharri, Lebanon, births and deaths were as ordinary as the tasks of the seasons, events only imprinted in the memories of men and women who later told their stories without regard for written history. It is only by such tales that we may deduce, with a fair amount of accuracy that the poet was born on January 6, 1883.
*Art and poetry*
Gibran held his first art
Exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day’s studio. During this exhibition, Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, a respected headmistress ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship that lasted the rest of Gibran’s life. Though publicly discreet, their correspondence reveals an exalted intimacy. Haskell influenced not only Gibran’s personal life, but also his career test.

*Political thought*
Gibran called for the adoption of Arabic as a national language of Syria and the application of Arabic at all school levels. When Gibran met `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1911-12, who traveled to the United States partly to promote peace, Gibran admired the teachings on peace but argued that "young nations like his own" be freed from Ottoman control. Gibran also wrote the famous "Pity the Nation" poem during these years which was posthumously published in The Garden of the Prophet.

*Death and legacy*

Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931: the cause was determined to be cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon, which has since become the Gibran Museum. The words written next to Gibran's grave are "a word I want to see written on my grave: I am alive like you, and I am standing beside you. Close your eyes and look around, you will see me in front of you.

*Quote*
When the souls rise in the light of their joy, my soul ascends glorified by the dark of grief. I am like you, Night! And when my morn comes, then my time will end.

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