ASSIGNMENT #2

LIT 11
Name: ALOB, JESTER H.
Program & Year Level: AB PSYCHOLOGY II
Date & Time: Mon-Wed 11:30-1:30PM

Directions: Analyze the poem carefully and answer the following questions written below.

“On Pain”
Kahlil Gibran

And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain.

(1) And he said:
(2) Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
(3) Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must
you know pain.
(4) 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;
(5) And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the
seasons that pass over your fields.
(6) And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

(7) Much of your pain is self-chosen.

(8) It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
(9) Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility:
(10) For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
(11) And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which
the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Questions:
1. What does the speaker mean by the line “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that
encloses your understanding.”?
After every suffering, the gates of wisdom will open for you, and you will gain
maturity. Physical or emotional, you must embrace the suffering to heal yourself and
grow stronger.
2. In stanza 6, what word is somehow related to "pain"?
Grief is related to pain. Grief means deep sorrow that caused by someone’s death.
3. According to the author, "Much of your pain is given.", true or false?
Pain is indeed self-chosen. But this self-chosen pain I am referring to doesn't relate
to physical pain. It is wrong to blame people for cancer treatment is brutal, and no
one is saying that people ask to be abuse. Self-chosen pain is when your mom left
you to work overseas. And you hate your mother for leaving? That there is self-
 chosen pain. And choosing it usually comes at the expense of your good
relationship with your mother and appreciating her sacrifices.
4. A) Who do you think is referred to as the “physician” in stanzas 8 to 9?
Physician is referred here as the intuition that we relate to ourselves.
B) Who do you think is referred to as the “Unseen” who guides and supports the
physician? Is He the same person as the “Potter”?
Unseen is referred as the unchangeable or the force beyond our control. And our
entire fate is governed by "Potter."

5. What do you think is the best way to cope with grief or loss? Explain your stand
substantially.
To relate to the unseen is to relate to our pain. We may either accept it or reject it.
Either way, there is no way to avoid it, and that's the finest reason to embrace it,
so we can confront it with presence and power rather than being swept away by
the changing waves.