1 Kahlil Gibran’s Poetry Speaks to Millions The poems of Kahlil Gibran are recited at weddings and funerals Lines are quoted in speeches and songs His book The Prophet has sold tens of millions of copies around the world His wise words have inspired countless people 4 Gibran was born in Lebanon in 1883 He grew up in a small clifftop village Gibran’s mother encouraged his interest in art His father was violent and bad with money In 1891 Gibran’s father was put in jail for a crime The family lost everything They feared the growing religious violence in the area In 1895 Gibran immigrated to the United States with his mother and siblings He was 12 years old As a young man Gibran studied art and literature in Boston Massachusetts Beirut Lebanon and Paris France In 1911 he moved to New York City He wrote poems and stories in Arabic and English His first book in English The Madman was published in 1918 A book of his drawings followed in 1919
KAHLIL GIBRAN PROPHET Published in 1923 The Prophet made him famous In the book a holy man named Almustafa gives advice about love marriage work children freedom and tolerance People could relate to the poems They felt that Gibran was writing about their lives The Prophet became an international best seller It has never gone out of print 50 Number of languages The Prophet has been translated into Gibran emigrated from Lebanon to the United States at age 12 He wrote poetry and stories in Arabic and English His third book The Prophet became a worldwide best seller 5 THINK ABOUT IT Gibran wrote mostly in Arabic and translated his books into English What are some of the challenges of translating poetry from one language to another
2 Claude McKay’s Poetry Sparks an Arts Movement played an important part in the Harlem Renaissance McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 His parents raised him to be proud of their African heritage McKay’s older brother taught him English poetry Soon McKay started to write poems In 1912 his poetry books Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads were published McKay won an award for his poetry He used the money to immigrate to the United States for college In 1914 McKay moved to Harlem He worked and wrote there for several years In 1919 his poem If We Must Die was published in the magazine Liberator The poem protested mob violence against black Americans The poem was included in McKay’s 1922 book Harlem Shadows It has since inspired people around the world The Harlem Renaissance was a golden age in black American culture Harlem is a neighborhood in New York City During the 1920s many black artists and intellectuals moved there Claude McKay 6
10 Age in years when McKay started to write poems Mckay emigrated from Jamaica to go to college in the United States His protest poetry made him famous in the 1920s His first novel Home to Harlem became a best seller THE JAZZ AGE Harlem in the 1920s was full of jazz music Born in New Orleans jazz became the music of urban American life Its modern energy and surprising rhythms led to new dance crazes Jazz fever spread all the way to Paris France and London England Liberator JULY 1919 20 CENTS Mckay was the first major poet of the Harlem Renaissance His protest poetry made him famous among black artists and writers His first novel Home to Harlem was published in 1928 It was the first best selling novel by a black writer IF WE MUST DIE IF we must die let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs Making their mock at our accursed lot If we must die oh let us nobly die So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead Sonnets and Songs 7 By Claude McKay Oh kinsmen We must meet the common foe Though far outnumbered let us still be brave And for their thousand blows deal one death blow What though before us lies the open grave Like men we'll face the murderous cowardly pack Pressed to the wall dying but fighting back
