Kahlil Gibran: Biography and Story of the World’s Most Famous Poet

Kahlil Gibran is known as one of the greatest poets and poets ever living in the world. For some people, the poetry of Kahlil Gibran is very beautiful. Kahlil Gibran’s literary and artistic works are very romantic in his views, and the Bible, the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, and William Blake heavily influenced. Kahlil Gibran’s poetry focuses more on love, death, nature, and longing for his homeland.

Kahlil Gibran is a poet from Lebanon who spent much of his life in America. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 48 while he was still productive in producing literary works. The following is Kahlil Gibran’s profile and biography.

Kahlil Gibran Biography

Kahlil Gibran was born with the full name Jubran Khalil Jubran. He was born on January 6, 1883, in the Bsharrī region, Lebanon. Kahlil Gibran is known as a novelist, poet, and artist.

Kahlil Gibran has a father named Khalil Gibran. His mother’s name is Kamila Gibran. He also has two sisters named Mariana and Sultana and a brother named Peter. Kahlil Gibran’s family is a follower of the Manonite Christian religion, a Christian sect in Lebanon.

Move to the United States

Kahlil Gibran completed his primary education in Beirut, Lebanon. After that, he and his parents and younger sister moved to Boston, United States, in 1895.

However, several years later, he returned to Lebanon in 1898 and studied at Madrasah Al-Hikmat (School of Wisdom) from 1898 to 1901. After only a few years in his homeland, he returned to Boston, United States, in 1903. Stay up-to-date with Deltsapure! Provide accurate and updated news for readers.

Meet Mary Haskell

In Kahlil Gibran’s biography, it is known that in that same year, Kahlil Gibran published his first literary work. In 1907, Kahlil Gibran met Mary Haskell, a very influential woman in Kahlil Gibran’s life and career.

Mary Elizabeth Haskell was a famous school principal in Boston. He was also Kahlil Gibran’s editor. Apart from being a school principal, Haskell was also a poet, artist, and writer.

Mary Haskell also supported Gibran financially while in Boston. However, it is unknown whether Mary Haskell and Kahlil Gibran were in a relationship because Haskell was married to another man.

Study Art in Paris

Mary Haskell also introduced Gibran to Emilie Michel, a French teacher who helped Gibran study art in Paris, France, in 1908. He studied at the School of Beaux Arts and the Julian Academy there.

Gibran wrote his first drama in Paris from 1901 to 1902. In 1903, Kahlil Gibran received news from the Turkish consulate that his 15-year-old sister, Sultana, had died of tuberculosis.

Gibran immediately returned to Boston. Not long afterward, his older brother, Peter, who was the support of his siblings and mother, also died of tuberculosis.

His mother, Kamilah, also died due to a malignant tumor. Only his younger sister, Marianna, remains. Haunted by the trauma of his family’s illness and poverty, Gibran and his younger brother then had to support an incomplete family and try hard to maintain its survival.

In the early years of their lives, Marianna financed the publication of Gibran’s works through wages from sewing at Miss Teahan’s Gowns. Thanks to his younger brother’s hard work, Gibran could continue his artistic and literary career, which was still in its infancy.

Kahlil Gibran’s First Work

At that time, he was 20 years old. His first work, Spirits Rebellious, was written in Boston and published in New York. This work contains four contemporary stories, a harsh satire that attacks the corrupt people he sees.

As a result, Gibran received punishment in the form of excommunication from the Maronite church. However, Gibran’s satires were suddenly seen as hope and a voice of liberation for the oppressed people in West Asia.
Kahlil Gibran’s perspective on the tyranny of the Ottoman Empire, the hypocritical nature of church organizations, and the role of West Asian women as mere servants inspired his perspective in writing poetry.

This was then expressed in his Arabic works. Gibran left his homeland again when he was 19, but his memories can never be separated from Lebanon. Lebanon has been his inspiration. In Boston, he wrote about his country to express himself. This allowed him to combine his 2 different cultural experiences into one.

Lives in New York

Then, in 1911, Kahlil Gibran settled in New York, America. He wrote many poems and short stories in Arabic and English there. Apart from literature, he also likes painting.

In New York, Gibran worked in his studio apartment at 51 West Tenth Street, a building that was purposely built as a place for him to paint and write. Before 1912, the work entitled Broken Wings was published in Arabic.

Kahlil Gibran is known as a very productive poet. In addition to writing in Arabic, he continues to perfect his command of English and develop his art.

He also likes to correspond with a rich Lebanese woman named May Ziadeh, who lives in Cairo, Egypt. In 1918, Kahlil Gibran published his first English literary book, The Madman. Apart from The Madman, Gibran’s books in English are Twenty Drawings, published in 1919, and The Forerunne, published in 1920.

In 1920, Kahlil Gibran, together with Arab writers and poets, founded Al Rabitat al Qualamiya, or The Pen Bond Society. It was an association of writers from Arabia.

Publishing The Prophet

In 1923, Kahlil Gibran’s most famous work, The Prophet, was published and immediately became a success. In that same year, he became friends with a female poet named Barbara Young, who later became his confidant.

In Kahlil Gibran’s biography, it is known that the Bible influenced Kahlil Gibran’s literary works and poetry. Unsurprisingly, in 1926, he completed his work entitled Sand and Foam.

In 1928, he published his work, Jesus, the Son of Man. He completed the manuscript of his drama entitled Lazarus in 1929. After that, he published another work entitled The Earth Gods in 1931.

Kahlil Gibran Dies

On April 10, 1931, the great poet Kahlil Gibran died in a hospital in St. Petersburg. Vincent’s Hospital, New York, at the age of 48 years. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis, the same diseases suffered by Poet Chairil Anwar.

His body was then taken to Lebanon. Kahlil Gibran was buried on August 21 in his hometown of Bsharri, precisely at the Mar Sarkis (Saint Serge) monastery, which has now been turned into a museum.

After his death, Kahlil Gibran’s work, The Wanderer, which had been in Mary’s hands, was published but without a name in 1932.