Gibran Kahlil Gibran (Khalil Gibran)

Introduction

We would like to introduce this literary work by synopsizing the political, religious, and social situations prevalent at the time Kahlil Gibran's parents were living in Bsharri, a remote village in North Lebanon.

In the 1850s, the political situation in Lebanon was subject to successive changes in leadership, and to the Ottoman domination that had been gripping Lebanon since the year 1516.

By 1860, Lebanon was wreathing in a quagmire of turmoil, which bred insurrections and «the period of anarchy reached its climax.»

Meanwhile, the northern district of Lebanon enjoyed a more tranquil political situation than other areas did, since the Ottoman influence existed through representation. Consequently, the inhabitants there responded differently to the aforementioned influences.

Disregarding the nature of influence in rural areas, social affairs in remote rural areas had to be monitored by the church in general and the clergymen in particular. The church had the final say even in private matters, simply because «a clergyman was one of the most influential figures in the society then. »

On the religious level, some spiritual leaders were lured by the idea of domination, which ensued the division of the clergymen into two categories. The first remained ascetic, whereas the second shifted their attention and meddled in political affairs besides social ones. Consequently, any minor or major changes on any level had to sift through the priest, being the decision maker, and the parish had to obey him blindly, even he seemed biased in favor of personnel interest; nobody dared oppose the sanctified figure.

On the social level, the Lebanese society was based mostly on hierarchy. The commoners had to strive arduously in the service of the proprietor or Bey who, despite the lavish, «posh» life he used to enjoy, expected the farmers to allot the best of their crops to the pleasure of his taste.

Thus, the rich and the strong thrived prosperously, whereas the weak writhed from poverty and the oppression of the tyrant rulers.

In this politically, religiously, and socially unstable atmosphere lived Kahlil Gibran, senior, and his wife, Kamila Rahmeh, in north Lebanon, in a small town called Bsharri.

To Order the Book

Chapter one - A Biography of Kahlil Gibran

Gibran Kahlil Gibran (Gubran Khalil Gubran) was born on January 6, 1883 in Bsharri which means the house of Astarte –a village that lies, as the crow flies, forty miles to the north of Beirut, at the foot of the lofty Cedars of Lebanon. Kahlil means, «A chosen, beloved friend. » Gibran means « the healer or comforter of souls. » Robin Waterfield says Gibran «was named after a Syrian monk of the late fourth and early fifth century. »

Gibran was only a few months old when his mother, Kamila, which means «perfect», detected certain uniqueness in her newborn. He withstood the harsh, unbecoming conditions the family was living in, and showed that he possessed a strong personality. However, his father had a different attitude towards him since the day he was born, and it seemed that Gibran was destined to drown in malaise and mortification from that day on.

On the day he was born, there was a violent snowstorm in Bsharri. Gibran’s father returned home as drunk as oftentimes. On entering the house, relatives broke the news to him that he had had a baby boy. His response was quite unexpected. He retorted, «I don't want him, throw him out to the snows. »

At the age of three, and during a gusty storm over Bsharri, Gibran rushed out of the house followed by his petrified mother. He resisted being brought back into the house, and reiterated, '' I love storms, I love them ''.

Barbara Young, Gibran's amanuensis and amicable friend for seven years, said, ''There was something in the man from early childhood, a passion for storm … something in him, he said, that was released, unleashed and set gloriously free by a storm''. His mother said, «He was unpredictable and difficult, tender over a broken flower at one moment, and the next raging like a young lion because of some imposing authority upon him, » whereas he said of himself, «I was really not a nice boy, but it was because I was restless. I felt strange and lost. I could not find my way. »

Etc... etc... etc...

Since his boyhood, Gibran manifested precocity of character, and any casual observer of his daily activities could detect this phenomenon. When he and his friends used to go the fields next to Bsharri, his friends would play in the green meadows, while he preferred to lie down and stare for hours at a scene unseen by his friends.

In one of his lectures on Gibran, Dr.Antoine Ghattas Karam says, «Gibran was curious was curious to explore the unknown and unusual. He could have been influenced by some of the books he had read, like the age of fables and beauties of Mythology, which tackle subjects about heroes, gods, and myths. I believe there are two important notes regarding Gibran's choice of such books. The first is his interest, since his boyhood, in choosing serious subjects related to classical education. The influence of these readings accompanied him as he gradually became a writer and a painter. The second is what he wrote in purple ink on the first page of one of his books, « I have studied this book between New York and America and all what I studied was done with great yearning. »

Besides the abovementioned books, Gibran read the Gospel secretly, especially without his father's knowledge, because it was forbidden that the simple laity unveil the teachings of Jesus since they were deemed too holy for the laymen, and anyone who broke this order, would be associated with anathema, and eventually be excommunicated. In her book, this man from Lebanon, Barbara young says, «Gibran was one of the rare gestures of the Mighty Unnamable Power. The reason and laws that govern ordinary men do not govern genius Gibran. Even his mother said, “My son is outside of psychology.”

Etc... etc... etc...

Gibran's congenial endowments enhanced the development of an intense urge to write and draw. He collected piles of paper slips on which he used to write works and expressions he had recently learnt. He also copied some of the paintings he had seen painted by the Italian priests who visited his grandfather. «His writing tendency developed into a quasi-addiction, to an extent that he would sometimes scribble a certain inspired idea on the cuff of his shirt sleeve if he did not have a handy piece of paper to write on. » His mother Kamila never scolded him for soiling his clothes. With her wit and enlightened mind, she perceived that such an act was a healthy phenomenon of an embodied genius.

Gibran was rebellious against the school rules and regulations set by the administrators, but he was tolerated because of his high achievement and craving to learn.

His precocious talent in drawing started at school where he often expressed his opinion of others by drawing them in caricature. Once he drew a caricature of Father Germanos, and when his father saw it, he slapped him and warned him against acting irresponsibly and foolishly.
Since he was a young boy, Gibran had been fond discovering what lay behind the regular standard of facts and matters. He once told Haskell about a bad experience he had suffered. He said, «My heart and neck are strong, and my hands; my shoulders are not because of the accident I had. When I was ten or eleven years old, I was in a monastery one day with another boy – a cousin, a little older. We were walking along a high place that fell off more than a thousand feet. The path had a handrail, but it had weakened and path and rail and fell with us, and we rolled probably one hundred fifty yards in the landslide. My cousin fractured his leg, and I got several wounds and cuts in the head down to the skull, and injured my shoulders. The shoulders healed crooked - too high, and too far forward. So they pulled them apart again and strapped me to a cross with thirsty yards of strap, and I stayed strapped to that cross for forty days. »

«Gibran's mother, Kamila Rahmeh, was born in Bsharri in 1864, and died in Boston in June, 1903. » she was the youngest of Estephan Rahmeh's children. She was clever, prudent, and attractive, but poorly educated because women's education in those days was considered futile especially in remote rural regions.

Kamila got married to her cousin, Hanna Abdel Salam Rahmeh. Shortly after their marriage, they traveled to Brazil where their first son, Boutros, was born.

In 1879, Kamila's husband died, so she decided to return to Lebanon where she might find consolation for her embittered soul, and a secure, familial environment for her son.

Gibran's father, Khalil Gibran, a descendent of naïve commoners, was born in Bsharri in 1844, and died in 1844, and died in 1909. When he died, Gibran wrote Haskell a letter saying, « I have lost my father, beloved Mary. He died in the old house where he was born sixty-five years ago. »
Being semi-literate, Gibran's father was appointed tax collector in Bsharri and the neighboring villages. He was doughty, tough, and rubicund of visage owing to spending the greater part of the day roaming the roads and fields in the sun to levy taxes.

Kamila was once singing at one of village festivals when Khalil heard her captivating voice. He fell in love with her. She was then a window with a baby boy, Boutros, from her previous marriage.

«They got married and begot Gibran, Mariana, and Sultana. Gibran's father used to prefer Kamila's first-marriage son, Boutros, to his son Gibran, who was six years younger». Khalil helped Boutros plough the field, but accused Gibran of wasting his time drawing and dreaming. Gibran once told Haskell, « My father loved Boutros much more than he did me. He also loved my mother greatly, and she loved him too, despite the silent periods that intermitted their lives because of my father's harsh, overbearing presence. »

As the years passed by, Gibran's father became alcoholic, with little income to suffice his family needs besides his addiction. He whiled away most of his days in drinking wine and staggering along the alleys to levy taxes imposed on Bsharri and the neighboring villages, then siphon off part of the revenue to the bottom of the bottle. He was harsh and ill tempered, which imposed an atmosphere of quelled denouncement and fear among his four children and his tolerant wife. Later on, Gibran's father was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to three years in prison. His «brutal arrest by the Ottoman» etched an indelible scar in Gibran's life, and played a major role in molding his character, as we will read later on. That incident prompted Gibran to compose an impromptu poem depicting the cruel arrest.

Gibran's subsequent attachment to the village priest was a psychological counter-reaction, or escapism from his failing, stern father. The priest, on the other hand, possessed so distinguished a personality that young Gibran asked him, «Are you God? ».

Cocooned within this dismal atmosphere of deprivation and dearth, Gibran grew up with more feelings to smother than to divulge. He embraced his sorrow to himself only to pour it into eloquent expressions in his writings, and artistic strokes in his paintings. His mother was his sole consolation and haven. Her soothing voice used to lull her young Gibran to sleep every night. Her ethereal tone and poetic words inspired him to say of her, «She lived countless poems, but she never wrote one. Her shrewd understanding lent to comprehending the uniqueness that molded his character.

The spreading rumor about Kamila's affair with Youssef Geagea, one of the village people, angered her and added salt to her wounded heart. That was the last straw for her. The accusation that was mouthed from door to door in the village, and the consequences of the shameful act brought about by her husband's arrest, rendered her unable to bear the brunt of her humiliation. She opened her heart to Gibran and said, «If I had joined the convent and become a nun, it would have been better for me and for the people».

Kamila made up her mind to immigrate to the USA. Another incentive for her emigration was her keen ambition to find a secure milieu for her children, especially Gibran in whom she had pinned high hopes for a promising future.

Dr. Bikai says, «The family emigrated to the United Stated to escape the tyrannical Ottoman domination, which augmented the misery that had accumulated upon Gibran's family. » Above all that Kamila's scandalous affair was not only shameful in a very reserved, «pious» setting, but it was also disgraceful because she was the daughter of the village priest, Father Estephan Rahmeh.

«On June 25, 1894, Kamila and her four children set off to Boston. When they arrived, they rented a small house in Edinburgh Street, China Town, a quarter for the commoners. Kamila accepted to live in that poverty-stricken only because a good number of Lebanese immigrants from Bsharri had already settled there. She thought she would find in them some consolation for her lonely soul and company for her children. Gibran's emigration was both a journey out of his country and into his self at the same time. He once said « I am a tourist and a seaman at the same time; every morning I discover a new continent within myself. »

On September 30, 1895, Gibran enrolled at Quincy Public School where he was placed in the «special English» class to learn the language. He finished his elementary education in two years.

« After school Gibran used to go to Dennison House, an area where people read poems and performed short plays. Later, he started reading simple English stories. His teacher was happy with his progress in English; hence, she gave him stories to read, like Uncle Tom's Cabin ». The setting in this story was similar to the humble home Gibran used to live in. Gibran was touched. «He left Quincy on September 22, 1898. » He had enrolled at an art institute, where he soon stood out among his classmates. Shortly after his enrolment, Miss Florence Pierce, his art teacher, realized his distinguished genius in drawing and encouraged him to enrich his talent.
« Among the members of the said art institute was Jessie Beale, who was greatly impressed by Gibran's remarkable talent. She shortened (and altered) his name to Khalil (Kahlil) Gibran.» She also wrote to her wealthy friend, Fred Holland Day, and pled with him to take close care of Gibran. Day was a rich man with an eccentric character, and a keen interest in artists. He was also a professional photographer who delighted in taking unconventional photographs. « His first meeting with Gibran kindled his interest in caring for him. This interest grew even more when he saw the eastern features on Gibran's face. He was also very influenced by legends and spiritual practices of the East. »

Day hired Gibran to pose for him in order to photograph him. He asked him to wear his hair long over his shoulders, and dress in eastern attire.

Day's mother liked Gibran too, but she was not keen on sitting with him because, «He hardly smiled. »

Etc... etc... etc...

Day offered Gibran financial and educational assistance. He also lent him books to read, such as Treasure of the Meek, by Metarlink, and the classical Dictionary. These books, too, nourished his intellect, and channeled his artistic talents and values. Day then introduced Gibran to notables in the literati, and to artists in various fields. «He (Day) acted as Gibran's mentor and collected for him the royalties from his drawings which were printed on book covers. »
The series of introductions and meetings with artists paved the way for Gibran to be eligible for admission to several restricted, aristocratic societies. This chance enhanced his self-confidence and urged him to sharpen his skill in painting. It also widened his horizon, and augmented his charisma among certain noble women he had been introduced to. Day was still collecting photographs of Gibran in different eastern attire and in various postures. He once said, «I could picture him in his beautiful fresh clothes, always carrying a book. He gleamed with intelligence and was overwhelmed with sedateness. Gibran was extremely contemplative, and full of love. » Among all his friends, Gibran was known for his elegance.

Etc... etc... etc...

«On August 3, 1898, Gibran embarked a ship to sail back to Lebanon. » Soon after his arrival, he intended to enroll at Al- Hikmeh (Wisdom) School; one of the most eminent educational institutes then.

On registration day at Al- Hikmeh School, Gibran made a remarkable distinction that provoked one of the Arabic teachers, Father Yousef Haddad, who complained about the arrogance of the new pupil who had refused to start from the elementary level. The school director advised Gibran to climb the ladder one rung at a time, but Gibran answered, «A bird does not need a ladder to fly. » When the director inquired about the parent in whose company Gibran had come, and how he had heard of him, he said, «My eye saw you; my heart showed me, and only I am responsible for myself. He then produced the money and paid the whole fee. »

Gibran found it too degrading to sit in the same classroom next to mediocre youth after he had become famous among many members in the artistic society in America.

After registration, he refused to be considered as a regular student who should attend classes in all subjects; instead, he selected the ones that conformed with his personnel standard of academic discipline, and ignored those which would blunt his natural talent. He disliked Arabic grammar because he found that it was dry, mechanical learning.

These were two reasons behind the above subject selection:

The first reason was his proud awareness of his own personal genius that prompted him to deem himself too advanced to follow the formal syllabi set by the administration. The second springs from a psychological repulsive reaction against imposed rules and regulations. This repelling attitude could be traced back and attributed to the oppression practiced against him at home by his father, and to the unpleasant memories of the inhumane practices adopted in his home village school, where corporal punishment was the reward for ignorance or laziness. His mother had frequently realized his repelling reaction; she said that he was at times “…raging like a young lion because of some imposing of authority upon him. »

After a short while in AL-Hikmeh school, Father Yousef Haddad, the Arabic teacher, assigned Gibran a list of Arabic books to read like The Bible, and Nahj-Al-Balagha (Method of Rhetoric). Father Haddad finally realized the rapid progress Gibran had made and said that he «sees his student (Gibran) as more than a student.” He also told his relative, Maroun Abboud, a renown Lebanese poet, that « Gibran was a unique student, not only in his scholastic achievements but also in his behavior and attitude towards matters that took place at school. »

Despite Gibran's recent involvement and interest in the Arabic language, his goal was to be awarded first prize in a poem contest held at the school. The challenge was competitive since all the other participants were pupils whose basic education, unlike Gibran's, enjoyed an unintermittent contact with their first language. Even though the advantage was to their favor, Gibran refused to be beaten at a contest in a language he had mastered through his artistic talent, although he had mastered through his artistic talent, although he had learnt little about it. The motive to succeed was geared by his tendency to challenge, and his yearning to attain a distinguished literary achievement. The contest ended with Gibran's name topping the list of winners.

Gibran also manifested remarkable progress in absorbing the French language of which he had but little knowledge. He was interested in reading about French art and artists, so he picked up a smattering of art jargon. Nevertheless, the French he had to study at Al-Hikmeh was of a different genre from the scanty French command he had attained through his personal readings.

During one of the class sessions, Father Francis Mansour, the only school administrator Gibran liked, saw in Gibran's hand a piece of paper on which he had drawn a naked girl kneeling before a priest. Father Mansour snatched the «promiscuous» drawing, pinched Gibran's ear and called him «evil boy», and then gave him a punishment. When Gibran handed in the punishment, Father Mansour rebuked him and explained that such a misdemeanor deserved expulsion from school. To this Gibran retorted, «Had you not been in this school, I would have repeated such a misdemeanor daily until I was expelled. »

This attitude justifies the conduct result Gibran received on graduation day on July 13, 1901, when his name tailed the second list. In those days, good conduct meant blind obedience, which Gibran revolted against. It was surprising, though, to find Gibran's name among those who received the consolation prize, which meant that his revolt was not as impudent as some of his old classmates had claimed.

Besides his outstanding achievement and rapid progress, Gibran was famous for an obstinacy that augmented when he was challenged. He felt threatened when confronted and would fight back irately. This reaction was the aftermath of the recurrent previous misfortunes and unpleasant experiences that had influenced him remarkably.

«Once the school principal requested that Gibran have his long hair cut, but Gibran refused and expressed readiness to leave school if he were not left alone. The principal, along with the staff, condoned the discrepancy on the account that Gibran was so precocious a student that he should not be angered or expelled. »

Gibran always spent his summer holidays in Bsharri. He and his father seemed to have always been at loggerheads with each other, especially after the humiliating encounters Gibran had experienced with him. He avoided living with his father in the same residence because «once bitten», Gibran was «twice shy. » He spent most of his vacation at his aunt's house.

Gibran started to draw regularly. One drawing led to another until he had sketched and collected a number of paintings. He sent them to Day in Boston. Day wrote back and expressed his administration of the paintings and sent him one hundred dollars as a token of his gratitude. «The next day Gibran went down to Tripoli, a city 45 kilometers from Bsharri, and bought a brown suit with pearly buttons, and a glossy pair of shoes. »

One of the remarkably striking events whose consequences bore a chronic effect which was carved in Gibran mind, and which chiseled his character, took place at one of the banquets held in Bsharri. Among the guests was Gibran’s teacher, Salim Al-Daher – then one of the wealthy notables in Bsharri. Gibran was very eager to see him and to appear at his best before the teacher whose opinion mattered so immensely to him.

During the celebration, an old woman reiterated her request to Gibran to read a poem he had written that winter, and which she liked.

At that moment his father looked at him with an expression of disapproval he had worn on his face, but despite that, Gibran insisted on proving his linguistic eloquence and refusing his father's vain claim that his son «hallucinated» when he wrote and read his poems.

Gibran fumbled for a piece of paper folded in his pocket, took it out rather clumsily and started to read. He had a legion of feelings cramming in his head. He perceived that it was the best opportunity to prove his worth, and disapprove his father's derisive view that he was worthless. Gibran felt as though he were reading to two opposing audiences: the guests, who were responding appreciatively by chiming in hums of admiration, and his father who was kibitzing pejoratively, mulling over the bleakest of diminutive comments, and lurking for his to finish reading.

No sooner had Gibran finished reading his poem than the guests blasted in fervent applause; whereas his father, with a grimace, spat his mulled-over, acerb remark and said, «I hope we will no longer listen to such hallucination.» instantaneously, Gibran put away the piece of paper and the scanty remaining bit of consideration he had reserved towards his father.

Gibran later told Haskell how his father reacted when he had read his poem, « I looked at my father, and he made a face - of contempt. »

After that bitter incident, Gibran felt that he lacked the existence of a healthy, natural and intact paternal image, and that his triangulation with his parents was disjointed by his father, the third element of the triangle, who mismatched the two other sides: his mother and himself. For this reason he sought a perfect substitute for his father.

During summer vacation, Gibran frequently visited his teacher, Al- Daher, whose daughter, Hala, Gibran started to admire. Al-Daher was among the guests at the banquet, and Gibran thought he had impressed him to the extent that he would be more welcome in his house than he had been before, and that he could privatize an intimate meeting with Hala. Unfortunately, his hopes were in vain although during their stealthy meetings Hala enjoyed his company and his romantic conversation that tickled her feminine instincts.

In 1899, during Gibran’s second summer in Bsharri, Hala's brother, Iskandar, discovered her relationship with Gibran. Furious, he forbade her from meeting with him as he did not want his sister to talk to the «son of a tax collector. » Nevertheless, Hala's sister, Saideh, arranged for them to meet in the forest, near Mar Sarkis monastery on the periphery of Bsharri.

During his last meeting with Hala, Gibran disclosed his wish to travel, and he gave her a bottle of perfume, a small bottle he had filled with his tears, a lock of his hair, and his walking stick. This meeting with her remained a symbol of two conflicts in Gibran’s personality.

Etc... etc... etc...

After a few weeks of separation and deprivation, Gibran asked Hala to elope with him. She euphemized her refusal saying, «If you pick a raw fruit from a tree, you will hurt both the fruit and the tree, but when the fruit ripens, it will fall alone.”

Etc... etc... etc...

«In 1901, Gibran graduated from Al-Hikmeh School. » Soon after that, he had to leave for Boston after having learnt that sickness was worming its way inside the members of his family.

On April 4, 1901, Sultana, Gibran's fourteen-year-old sister, died of tuberculosis, and his mother and brother, Boutros, were seriously ill with the same disease. Boutros died in March, 1903, and his mother died a few months later. «On hearing the news about his mother's death, Gibran could not consume the impact, so he collapsed to the floor. » Sorrow marked its effect and left in him many a defined line of affectionate influence that threaded inside his mind and webbed his character, as the succeeding chapter conveys.

Gibran and his sister Mariana were left to console and support each other through those disasters. He could hardly offer any financial assistance as he had not sold any of his painting for some time. His loving sister, Mariana, took over all the responsibilities of the house.

She and Gibran had always enjoyed a close bond of love, so she strove to provide for both of them by working as seamstress with as little income as sixty dollars a month. Gibran was her only care and company. She used to prepare the Lebanese dishes he liked, and invite some Arab friends over to entertain him and alleviate his agony.

In Boston, Gibran succeeded in liberating his talent, volcanic surge of artistic creativity. He developed his inclination towards independence, and at last was able to release himself from the suffocating grip his father had clenched him with. He succeeded in unshackling the chains that bound him physically, mentally, and intellectually.

Gibran unveiled some unpleasant memories to Haskell and related that once he had drawn a caricature of Rajj Bey Al-Daher, and when his father saw the drawing , he rebuked him and considered his act so brazen that he «rewarded» him with “A bunch of sticks which broke across his back.» He also remembered that his ignorant father used to call him «foolish» because he «wasted» his time drawing and forbade him from «scribbling» any more.

Being molded of adamant clay, Gibran refused to surrender to oppression and hardships, «La Rochefoucaud - a French philosopher - said, ‘when the fire is weak, a soft blow of wind will put it out, but when it is strong, the wind will kindle it to become even stronger». This quotation resembles Gibran's situation. The pounding agony brought about by his father's pummeling, and the recurrent misfortunes that befell his family would have destroyed his self-confidence had he not been so tenacious.

We will not elaborate on the influence aspect in Gibran's life as there is a whole chapter dedicated to this matter. Mentioning the above incidents was inevitable as they had an immediate effect on Gibran's personality development during his childhood and early life.
“In 1904, Gibran prepared twenty drawings to be exhibited. Most of them were of Sufi nature tinged with a touch of melancholy. Day helped him and offered him his workshop in Boston to exhibit paintings in. few people came to visit the museum. Gibran started to despair until a woman of serene composure entered the museum. Her looks grew sharp as her attention was caught by the exquisite paintings displayed. She began to inquire about the meaning of some of these paintings. Gibran started to explain in his charming style and well-chosen phrases, which left a considerable impression on her mind and heart. That woman had been Mary Haskell, headmistress and owner of Cambridge school for girls, at Marlboro Street.”

«After four days, Haskell invited Gibran to come her school and exhibit paintings in the lecture hall, and he accepted. »

At Haskell's school, Gibran was attracted to a beautiful teacher called Emily Michel (pet-named Micheline).

Through that exhibition, then, Haskel met Gibran, and they weaved a bond of forbidding infatuation and spiritual love that was broken only by death.

After having established a shy, unannounced attachment to Haskell, Gibran frequented her school where Micheline used to teach. A romantic spark seemed to have kindled a clandestine infatuation between Gibran and Micheline. After a few secretive meetings between them, Micheline encouraged Gibran to travel to France and promised to help him there. Gibran was thrilled at the prospect of leaving for Paris. He thought about the opportunistic consequences that may open far-fetched domains for him. He wrote to his friend, Amine Ghrayeb, saying, «I shall join the group of famous artists in that famed city. »

Gibran arrived in Paris on June 13, 1908. Micheline was there to meet him. She helped him find a place to stay. A short while after his arrival, he enrolled at Academie Julian to study painting. This enrollment motivated him to visit the local museums and examine the paintings in order to reproduce, in his own style, the paintings that had forced a smile of admiration on his face.
After a few days in Paris, Gibran met with Youssef Hwayek, a Lebanese friend, and told him about the purpose of his visit. Hwayek said, « Gibran is haunted by a dream of art which he seeks to realize. »

Etc... etc... etc...

In October 1910, after two years and a half in Paris, Gibran left for Boston where Haskell and his sister Mariana were waiting for him.

To Gibran, what was waiting for him was more important than who was waiting for him. He perceived quite well that the two and a half years he had spent in Paris were more beneficial prestigiously than artistically. He foresaw the impact of the consequence long before he trod Paris. In a letter to Amine Ghrayeb on Februrary 12, 1908, Gibran wrote, « The twelve months which I am going to spend in Paris will play an important part in my everyday life, for the time which I will spend in the City of light will be, with the help of God, the beginning of a new chapter in the story of my life.»

In the succeeding chapters, we will see how deeply influenced and influential Gibran was in the advancement of his art which opened for him not only doors, but also the continents of the whole world.