Analysis of On Religion
Khalil Gibran 1883 (Bsharri) – 1931 (New York City)
And an old priest said, 'Speak to us of Religion.'
And he said:
Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, 'This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?'
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.
And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.
Scheme | A X X A X X X X X X X B X A X X X B X X X A X X |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111111010 011 111011111 110101101010 01111011010101000011010001101011011101 1110111110110111010 111110011101110111111101101110 11101111111111 1111010011111001010 010011111011 01101101110010111001 01011111010 01111001010110110111111000111111011111 1101111001010 01011001111111 1010010010001 011110001001101 101110101101011101110 011111 1001011011011111001101101 011111111010110 10101101111101110 010111111100011110010001001 1111100101100101101 |
Characters | 1,759 |
Words | 335 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 24 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 57 |
Words per line (avg) | 14 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 57 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 14 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 129 Views
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"On Religion" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25218/on-religion>.
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