Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Forerunner, August 15, 2000
By A Customer
"The Forerunner" is a collection of poems and short stories that will leave you laughing, crying, and swimming in irony. It brings you into people's minds and emotions flawlessly to provide insights to life that you would never have imagined. One becomes the characters, instead of just reading about them. I can only go a few months before I have to read it again. It soothes the soul and leaves the mind at peace with society and nature. Quiet reflection is the only way you can end this book: it demands nothing less. This is a book that must be read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Desires In The Mist, November 10, 2006
"When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born."
-Kahlil Gibran, Untitled, page 1
In reality, this book is a collection of 25 poems and parables, rather than 24. The first poem, which is untitled, is not listed in the table of contents and is not indicated as an introduction or preface. This first untitled poem appears on pages 1 and 2, and could be aptly titled, "The Forerunner".
In this first untitled poem, Gibran speaks to us in his usual, beautiful fashion of life and death, of love and desire, and of birth and rebirth. He asserts that we are all our own forerunners, meaning that we originate from nothing less than ourselves, our own spirit, and our own karma.
"Then Life uttered us and we came down the years throbbing with memories of yesterday and with longing for tomorrow, for yesterday was death conquered and tomorrow was birth pursued."
-Kahlil Gibran, untitled, page 2
The Forerunner, was published three years prior to Gibran's most famous work, The Prophet. Occasionally, the poems and parables within The Forerunner are not the best examples of the highly polished writing that most are accustomed to from Kahlil Gibran. However, even the most casual reader of Gibran will find the contents worthwhile and will note that he often slightly changes style within the book. This is evident in the parable of The Scholar And The Poet, where he depicts the scholar as an all-wise, but perhaps evil, serpent. The poet, on the other hand, is symbolized as a songbird in the form of a lark. In The Scholar And The Poet, Gibran appears to be heavily influenced by The King James Bible, not only in his use of the symbol of the serpent, but also in the language the two exchange:
"Said the serpent to the lark, 'Thou flyest, yet thou canst not visit the recesses of the earth where the sap of life moveth in perfect silence.'
"And the lark answered, 'Aye, thou knowest over much, nay thou art wiser than all things wise--pity thou canst not fly.'"
-page 41
In addition to the poems and parables, The Forerunner contains five drawings created by Gibran. In a letter to May Ziadeh in 1920 he spoke of one of them in particular:
"The book, Towards God, is still in the mist factory, and its best drawing is in The Forerunner..."
Kahlil Gibran was a great master at expressing deep spiritual insight into the human condition. This book contains some of his most wonderful writings such as, "God's Fool", "The Greater Self", and "Out Of My Deeper Heart". Admirer's of Kahlil Gibran will appreciate these earlier writings. As always, Kahlil Gibran speaks to our greater selves with a profound sense of love and humility.
Brian Douthit
Editor of Eyes Of The Poet: Love and Passion in Lasting Splendor
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
the forerunner Kahlil Gibran, January 23, 2009
It has been a month since I purchased this item. I never received it. I am going to call my credit card company to cancel the perchase.
Yair Gazitt
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