“Let These Be Your Desires” Blog #7

February 10, 2009 blondie11

“Let These Be Your Desires,” by Khalil Gibran is a unique poem about what our desires in life should be. However, the tone is nowhere forceful or demanding, it reminds me so much of “If—“ by Rudyard Kipling.  It is as though the author is giving advice to all the readers.  There is no rhyme scheme, and so I am thinking this was written during the time period where they were breaking free from the expected rhyme and rhythm of a poem.  I did notice how much personification and metaphor is used to describe the desirable feelings.  I don’t quite remember the name for the literary term that puts two unlikely things together, but it was used a couple times in this poem by saying, “To bleed willingly and joyfully.” I found this line very peculiar and strange, almost as if it was trying to represent some sort of pride.  This poem is also pretty much made up of putting two things together-one that is an emotion and one that is somewhat an action. For example, “To wake at dawn with a winged heart,” and also, “To sleep with a prayer.  I find this way of writing to be most effective since it is such a different way to describe something. On a personal level, I found this poem to be very encouraging and eye opening much like, “If.” These types of poems just really open up my eyes to a better life and self improvement and just being happy and “desiring” the simple things represented in this poem.  I can honestly say I love the non-rhyming free verse poem so much better than the standard rhyme because it appears so much more natural and I really enjoy reading them. J

Entry Filed under: Senior year

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed