Gibran's the Procession in the Transcendentalist Context

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine Gibran Kahlil Gibran's ideas, as articulated in The Procession (Al-Mawākib), in the context of New England Transcendentalism, in particular Emerson's and Thoreau's. Even though critics recognize Ralph Waldo Emerson (and less frequently Henry David Thoreau) as an influence on Gibran, the precise nature of the influence has not been spelled out clearly. In this study, I shall attempt to do so. To the end of establishing the New England Transcendentalist influence on Gibran more firmly and coherently, I locate, explain, and highlight some of the striking echoes, similarities, and analogies (linguistic, philosophic, as well as structural) in Gibran's The Procession, on the one hand, and Emerson's essays and Thoreau's Walden, on the other hand. Such an examination of the relationship will certainly enrich the meanings of Gibran's poem, shed a new light on his ideas, and suggest an angle from which his philosophy is best viewed.

A Review of Kahlil Gibran’s Major Creative Works (Ulasan Hasil Karya Kreatif Utama Kahlil Gibran)

“…George Kheirallah, who translated the work to English in the 1940s, believes that "the poem represents the unconscious autobiography of Gibran: Gibran the sage, mellowed beyond his years and Gibran the rebel, who had come to believe in the unity and universality of all existence and who longed for simple, impersonal freedom, merged in harmony with all things" . 21 Whether autobiographical or not, the poem echoes various romantic and mystical themes with its call for a simple and pure life, revolting against materialism, and its focus on the degradation of the self in a social setting against the unitive life of the natural goodness (Majdoubeh, 2002). 22 Although Gibran started publishing in English with Alfred A. Knopf in 1918, he nonetheless published a final Arabic work in 1920 entitled, The Tempests.…”