Other editions of book The Madman, His Parables And Poems

Kahlil Gibran's The Madman was the first book he penned in English. Beautifully written, it is a short collection of parables on God, animals, human nature, and life's big questions. Not as well known as his classic The Prophet, but some would say just as inspirational, or possibly more so. Read the first verse here and decide for yourself, or better still, listen to the sample of Arthur Browns' beautiful narration. You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen, the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives, I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, "Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves." Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me. And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house top cried, "He is a madman." I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks." Thus I became a madman. And I have found both freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.

The Madman: His Parables and Poems is an early collection of English poems written by Lebanese American author Kahlil Gibran. This volume includes the following poems: God, My Friend, The Scarecrow, The Sleep-Walkers, The Wise Dog, The Two Hermits, On Giving and Taking, The Seven Selves, War, The Fox, The Wise King, Ambition, The New Pleasure, The Other Language, The Pomegranate, The Two Cages, The Three Ants, The Grave-Digger, On the Steps of the Temple, The Blessed City, The Good God and the Evil God, Defeat, Night and the Madman, Faces, The Greater Sea, Crucified, The Astronomer, The Great Longing, Said a Blade of Grass, The Eye, The Two Learned Men, When My Sorrow Was Born, And When My Joy Was Born, and 'The Perfect World'.

While most of Gibran's early writings were in Arabic, most of his work published after 1918 was in English. His first book for the publishing company Alfred A. Knopf, in 1918, was "The Madman," a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran is considered to be the third most widely read poet in history, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

An Unabridged Edition To Include Numerous Illustrations By The Author: The Madman, God, My Friend, The Scarecrow, The Sleep-Walkers, The Wise Dog, The Two Hermits, On Giving And Taking, The Seven Selves, War, The Fox, The Wise King, Ambition, The New Pleasure, The Other Language, The Pomegranate, The Two Cages, The Three Ants, The Grave-Digger, On The Steps Of The Temple, The Blessed City, The Good God And The Evil God, Defeat, Night And The Madman, Faces, The Greater Sea, Crucified, The Astronomer, The Great Longing, Said A Blade Of Grass, The Eye, The Two Learned Men, When My Sorrow Was Born, And When My Joy Was Born, The Perfect World

Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist and Lebanese nationalist.Though born a Maronite, Gibran was influenced not only by his own religion but also by Islam, and especially by the mysticism of the Sufis. His knowledge of Lebanon's bloody history, with its destructive factional struggles, strengthened his belief in the fundamental unity of religions, which his parents exemplified by welcoming people of various religions in their home. Connections and parallels have also been made to William Blake's work, as well as the theological ideas of Walt Whitman and in Ralph Waldo Emerson such as reincarnation and the Over-soul. Themes of influence in his work were Islamic/Arabic art, European Classicism (particularly Leonardo Da Vinci) and Romanticism (Blake and Auguste Rodin), the pre-Raphelite Brotherhood, and more modern symbolism and surrealism.Gibran had a number of strong connections to the Bahá'í Faith starting around 1912. One of Gibran's acquaintances, Juliet Thompson, reported several anecdotes relating to Gibran. She recalled Gibran had met 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the leader of the religion at the time of his journeys to the West Gibran was unable to sleep the night before meeting him in person to draw his portrait in April 1912 on the island of Manhattan. Gibran later told Thompson that in 'Abdu'l-Bahá he had "seen the Unseen, and been filled". Gibran began work on the book The Prophet, in 1912 when "he got the first motif, for his Island God" whose 'Prometheus exile shall be an Island one.”In 1928, after the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, at a viewing of a movie of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Gibran rose to talk and proclaimed in tears an exalted station of `Abdu'l-Bahá and left the event weeping still. (wikipedia.org)

Excerpt: "You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen,--the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives,--I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, "Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves." Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me." (The Madman) Words of wisdom from the poet-madman is inspiring and soul-searching. Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and philosopher. Regarded as a literary and political rebel, his romantic style was at the heart of the renaissance in modern Arabic literature. TABLE OF CONTENTS: • The Madman: His Parables And Poems • Sketches & Paintings of Kahlil Gibran • Inspirational Quotes

Widely known in America as author of The Prophet, which sold more copies in the 20th century than any other book but the Bible, the great Lebanese-American poet and artist Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) first became known to Americans in 1918 with the publication of The Madman.Thought-provoking and inspiring, the book is a collection of memorable, life-affirming parables and poems, many of them casting an ironic light on the beliefs, aspirations, and vanities of humankind — and many reminiscent of the work of Tagore and Nietzsche, both of whom were strong influences on Gibran.Among the 35 poems and parables in this volume are "How I Became a Madman," "The Two Hermits," "The Wise Dog," "The Good God and the Evil God," "Night and the Madman," "The Three Ants," "When My Sorrow Was Born," "And When My Joy Was Born," and many more.The book includes several illustrations by the author, whose exquisite drawings are reminiscent of Rodin and the best of Blake. ". . . the greatest of Arab Romantics and father of a 20th-century Romantic tradition whose impact on Arab writers has been at least as strong as that of 19th-century figures such as Wordsworth and Keats on their English-speaking counterparts." — Dr. Suheil Bushrui, Director of the Kahlil Gibran Chair on Values and Peace, University of Maryland