Jubran Khalil Jubran's Revolution of Arabic Poetry and His Criticism of Traditionalism

Abstract

Jubran Khalil Jubran (1883-1931), well-known as Kahlil Gibran, the author of The Prophet, is a poet who was born in Mount Lebanon, emigrated to the United States of America, and spent most of his lifetime there. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze some aspects of the revolution of Arabic Poetry which he initiated. Arabic poetry, which had traditionally been the main genre of Arabic creative literature, regained its vigor in the 'asr al-nahda,' evoking the pride in the glory of Arab-Islamic civilization. However, the Arabic poetry of the time tended to follow the traditional view of poesy in its content and form, which had been formed in the Abbasid period. Jubran objected to this situation. Prominent features of Jubran's poetry are: seeking for 'unknown' through his prophet-like vision, critical and rebellious stance toward the reality, and expression of the personal experience as a stranger. As for the poetic form, Jubran regarded it as a means of expression of his vision and message. Therefore, he was not only selective in it, but also altered it and tried to create new forms, calling himself 'creator of forms (khaliq ashkal)'. Through this process, he came up with an alternative to the tradition of poetry of strictly defined forms. At the same time, however, he was a traditional poet in the sense that he inherited the Arab cultural legacies in his poetic world, and his poetic vision was prescribed by a monotheistic world view. Nevertheless, traditionalists like Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii criticize his deviation from 'the true tradition'. The traditional view of poesy remained very influential through the 'asr al-nahda' and the period between the two world wars, probably because it fanctioned as a centripetal force in the context of seeking for a stable cultural identity under the Western hegemony. However, that view of poesy confuses 'tradition as structure' with 'tradition as ideology'; regards paticular norms as 'the true tradition' that constitutes the essence of the Arab culture; and excludes all that deviates from these norms. As a conclusion, this paper suggests that Jubran's romantic revolution was not rejection of 'tradition as structure', but it implied criticism of the ideology of traditionalism which emerged in the 'asr al-nahda'.