The Prophet
Almustafa, a wise stranger who has lived for twelve years in the city of Orphalese, walks down to the harbor on the morning his ship has finally arrived to take him home. The townspeople gather around him, holding him a little longer, and the seeress Almitra steps forward to ask him to speak before he sails. Across twenty-six short prose poems Almustafa answers them in turn on love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and finally death. Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese American poet and visual artist who lived between Boston and New York, published The Prophet in 1923 with his own line drawings. It has never gone out of print and has been translated into more than a hundred languages, one of the bestselling books of the twentieth century.
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After twelve years in the city of Orphalese, the prophet Almustafa is preparing to board the ship home when the townspeople gather at the gate. Across twenty-six short prose poems, a seeress named Almitra and others ask him to speak about love, marriage, work, joy, sorrow, and death.
Yes. The Prophet was first published in 1923 and is in the public domain in the United States. Free editions are available legally through Project Gutenberg.
The Prophet is spiritual but not tied to a specific religion. Kahlil Gibran was a Maronite Christian-Lebanese-American writer, and the book draws on Christian, Islamic, and Sufi traditions. Readers from many backgrounds find it accessible.
The Prophet was written by Kahlil Gibran, published in 2007 by Alfred A. Knopf.
The Prophet is 112 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Prophet takes most readers about 2 hours to finish.
The Prophet is a standalone novel by Kahlil Gibran, not part of a series.
The Prophet is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
