The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
List Price:
Our Price: $4.92
You Save: $7.08 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.90 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Kahlil GibranReader: Paul Sparer
Edition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Published: 1985-11-12
ISBN: 0394550498
Publisher: Random House Audio
Accessories:
Book Reviews of The Prophet
Book Review: Eight Decades Later: Still Relevant, Insightful and Eloquent
Summary: 5 Stars
These days, Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" often gets dismissed as "hippie" literature. Yet, this book had been a bestseller LONG before the 1960s. Originally published in 1923, it almost instantly became a hit and even did well through the Great Depression. Today, Gibran's claim to fame is being the third best-selling poet of our time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu... and pretty much entirely based on sales of this book. When his publisher, Alfred Knopf was asked who the audience for the book was, he flippantly dismissed the question. "It Must be a cult," he retorted.
Yet there is no such cult. What's incredible is that there's absolutely no marketing hype behind the success of this book. Gibran himself is long gone. There is no political, religious, or commercial enterprise attached to his name bent on winning souls and/or profits. The Gibran estate has merely been licensing copies year after year in response to the demand - a demand fueled pretty much entirely by word-of-mouth and chance discovery. The fact is, the twenty-six poems in this book have a surprising and suprassing relevance, insight and compassion. Broken down into several topics ("On Love", "On Work", "On Joy and Sorrow", etc.) the book itself recounts the sermons of a fictional poet leaving behind the gift of knowledge before he leaves his homeland.
I first found Gibran through a setting of his poem "On Children" by local Washington, D.C. singers Sweet Honey in the Rock on their album, "Breaths."
"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you."
At the time I was about to leave for college and eighteen years of living under my parent's roof had made me restless for autonomy. That poem eloquently expressed everything I was yearning to say to them in my hours of frustration and adolescent angst. It later proved to be a reference to turn to in times where I needed confidence to live an independent and fulfilling life, while still maintaining respect and compassion towards the parents who had raised me.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the poems in this book have kept me grounded and sane throughout some of the most troubling times in my life. Our modern lives are ever hectic, stressful and busy - wrought with drama, frustration, depression, etc. The knowledge in these poems brings me back to a "middle ground" - there is a sage wisdom and clarity in the poems that has often been helpful for me in "unwinding" and coming back to earth. They bring me back to a place of clarity from whcih I can see my life from a wider perspective.
Though Gibran himself was a Christian and despite the title and conceit of the book, this is not really a religious book. The insight in this book would be applicable to your life even if you are an atheist. What's more, the poetry is mostly imagistic. Do not expect the academic poetics of Gibran's contemporaries Eliot or Pound or even Frost. They are written with the aim of being accessible and immediate to the reader and rely mostly on clear metaphors and vivid imagery.
Copies of "The Prophet" are not hard to come by. Perhaps check out the book's table of contexts either using Amazon's "Search Inside" feature or in your local bookstore and see if it addresses a problem or issue you are dealing with. That's a good a place as any to start with. Chances are, you will find something that speaks to you on some level.
Summary of The Prophet
1 cassette / 90 minutesUnabridged
The Prophet is Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece, his most celebrated statement about the truths of the human experience.
Gibran considered The Prophet to be his greatest achievement. First published in 1923, The Prophet has been translated into more than twenty languages, and has become one of the beloved classics of our time. Cherished by millions, the universally inspiring words of The Prophet are here magnificently read aloud.
The Kahlil Gibran Companion is also available from Random House AudioBooks.
In a distant, timeless place, a mysterious prophet walks the sands. At the moment of his departure, he wishes to offer the people gifts but possesses nothing. The people gather round, each asks a question of the heart, and the man's wisdom is his gift. It is Gibran's gift to us, as well, for Gibran's prophet is rivaled in his wisdom only by the founders of the world's great religions. On the most basic topics--marriage, children, friendship, work, pleasure--his words have a power and lucidity that in another era would surely have provoked the description "divinely inspired." Free of dogma, free of power structures and metaphysics, consider these poetic, moving aphorisms a 20th-century supplement to all sacred traditions--as millions of other readers already have. --Brian Bruya
Poetry, Drama & Short Stories Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Poetry, Drama & Short Stories Books
Twelfth Night (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Group(CA); Published: 1998-07; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $3.02
Price in other shops:
Rilke: Selected Poemsby Rainer Maria Rilke
Audio Literature; Published: 1988-08; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
All's Well That Ends Well (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare)by Arkangel
Penguin Group(CA); Published: 1998-08; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Twelfth Nightby William Shakespeare
Caedmon; Published: 1990-03-28; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $0.95
Price in other shops:
Screwtape Lettersby C. S. Lewis
Audio Literature; Published: 1989-08-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $30.00
Death of a Salesmanby Arthur H. Miller
Caedmon; Published: 1991-02-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $17.95
Price in other shops:
T.S. Eliot Reads: The Wasteland, Four Quartets and Other PoemCaedmon; Published: 2000-04-26; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Raisin in the Sun, Aby Lorraine Hansberry
Caedmon; Published: 1991-01-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $10.06
Price in other shops:
The Crucibleby Arthur H. Miller
Caedmon; Published: 1995-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)by Homer
Penguin Audio; Published: 1996-11-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $32.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Love Letters in the Sand: The Love Poems of Khalil Gibranby Khalil Gibran
Souvenir Press; Published: 2006-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.45
Price in other shops:
The Forerunner: His Parables and Poemsby Kahlil Gibran
Dover Publications; Published: 2000-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.33
Price in other shops:
Richard Harris - The ProphetRelease date: 1996-11-19; Music CD
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
Secrets of the Heartby Kahlil Gibran
Citadel; Published: 1998-08-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
Thoughts and Meditationsby Kahlil Gibran
Citadel; Published: 1998-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul (Arkana)by Kahlil Gibran
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
Gibran's Little Book of Loveby Kahlil Gibran
Oneworld Publications; Published: 2007-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.27
Price in other shops:
The Madman: His Parables and Poemsby Kahlil Gibran
Dover Publications; Published: 2001-12-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.48
Price in other shops:
Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibranby Kahlil Gibran
Castle Books; Published: 2005-03-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
The Beloved: Reflections on the Path of the Heart (Arkana)by Kahlil Gibran
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.14
Price in other shops: