Analysis of On Friendship
Kahlil Gibran 1883 (Bsharri, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate) – 1931 ( New York City)
And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.”
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery us not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Scheme | XABAXX XXBCXXC XXXXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0011111110 011010 1111110 11111111101110 011110110 111111110011111 1111111110101111110101 01111011101110111 10110101110101010110111111 111111111 111111011110011010101010110101 0111110010101001010 11111100101111001111011101000100011 01111111 1111011111111110 111111111111011 11111011 11111111111100 0001011011110010110 100111010111100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,477 |
Words | 269 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 54 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 363 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
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"On Friendship" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53998/on-friendship>.
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