This image of the archer and the bow closes the sequence on children in The Prophet and is among its most memorable figures. Gibran presents the parent as an instrument of release, responsible for giving the child momentum rather than control over its direction. Suheil Bushrui has noted the economy of this metaphor, which condenses the book's teaching that love must be measured by the freedom it grants. Mikhail Naimy, who knew Gibran's conversation well, recalls a writer who often spoke of the need to let others pursue their own paths, and his biography is a useful gloss on the sentiment. Virginia Hilu's letters record Gibran's concern for his own family and his sense that the bonds of blood do not confer ownership. The figure of the bow also draws on a long tradition of archery imagery in Arabic and Persian poetry, though Gibran's use is distinctly modern in its emphasis on release. The line is securely attributable to the 1923 English text, and its wording should be checked against the first edition.
Commentary
This image of the archer and the bow closes the sequence on children in The Prophet and is among its most memorable figures. Gibran presents the parent as an instrument of release, responsible for giving the child momentum rather than control over its direction. Suheil Bushrui has noted the economy of this metaphor, which condenses the book's teaching that love must be measured by the freedom it grants. Mikhail Naimy, who knew Gibran's conversation well, recalls a writer who often spoke of the need to let others pursue their own paths, and his biography is a useful gloss on the sentiment. Virginia Hilu's letters record Gibran's concern for his own family and his sense that the bonds of blood do not confer ownership. The figure of the bow also draws on a long tradition of archery imagery in Arabic and Persian poetry, though Gibran's use is distinctly modern in its emphasis on release. The line is securely attributable to the 1923 English text, and its wording should be checked against the first edition.