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Brynn Larson

Rohan

English 6B

September 14th, 2020

Gibran's Writing Style

Poetry is a thought provoking form of art which can share an emotional story on anything

one has experienced. In The Prophet the poet, Khalil Gibran, uses highly detailed writing

techniques to change the reader's perspective of these topics which contributes to his style of

poetry. In the poems “On Love” and “On Pain” Gibran takes hardships from life's experiences

and shows it in a way of using strong poetic devices, writing structure and attitude all which

contribute to his descriptive writing.

The Prophet is constructed with strong uses of poetic devices all which makes Gibran's

writing style unique. Figurative language is seen most predominantly throughout the poems

Gibran has written. In “On Pain” Gibran uses personification when talking about the feeling of

pain: “Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you

know pain”(Gibran 61). The use of personification here broadens the reader's perspective on pain

because even if something hurts you still have the potential to feel joy. Gibran's use of figurative

language is so diverse that there can be many different meanings but each meaning sees the

bright side.

Writing structure varies in all types of poetry and the author as well. Gibran's style is

unique compared to most of the other authors because he writes each poem in paragraphs rather

than lines. Each poem flows to the next because he incorporates the title in the sentence. For
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example on page 16 the chapter starts with the title: “Then said Almitra, Speak to us of

Love”(Gibran). This is disparate to other poems because it doesn’t conclude the train of thought

but rather keeps it going. His writing structure is a powerful way of drawing in the bookworm

and expanding the thinking process.

Lastly, the attitude Gibran demonstrates in his writing helps the reader understand his

point of view. Gibran talks about many hardships and struggles in life but the attitude always

ends looking at the brighter side. For example in “On Pain”, Gibran compares the feelings we

have with joy and pain: “And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your

life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;”(Gibran 61). Another example on

the poem “On Love”, Gibran keeps a positive attitude talking about the pain of love: “For even

as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your

pruning”(Gibran 16). Both of these examples in the chapters makes the reader look at the

contented view of both love and pain. If people viewed joy like they viewed pain the world

would be filled with much more lively faces. His attitude makes society consider that even after

the gloomy days, there are always sunny days ahead.

In the poems “On Love” and “On Pain” Gibran uses highly detailed writing techniques

with use of figurative language, writing structure, and attitude to change the reader's perspective

of these touchy topics. All of the writing techniques contribute to the influence all these feelings

have on everyone in life. It displays that everything in life is hard but everything also gets better

which is something that everyone should know. How has poetry affected you?
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Works Cited:

GIBRAN, KHALIL. THE PROPHET. WILDER PUBLICATIONS, 2019.