Understanding “On Pain” By Khalil Gibran

1. Rhthym: The Rhythm of Khalil Gibran’s “On Pain” is mellow. It is mild. It is a nudge.

2.a) “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” This line simply sums up that something (pain) needs to happen for something else (change, freedom, understanding…) to happen. b) Much of your pain is self-chosen. Pain is an emotion, and our pain is controlled by our own choice to accept,
denounce or resist it.

3. The poem “On Pain” reminds me of a family rift that was a necessary evil. A heartbreak. And also reminds me of the biblical verse of “unless a wheat grain falls on
the ground and dies…”

4. Gibran employs metaphors and allusions. It is a simple poem, couldn’t have been flooded with figurative devices. So, the choice devices used are enough for the two irregular stanzas.

5. With poetry we can’t fully comprehend the source of a poet’s inspiration, so, no lines are “worst”. And because of the way it is written and the choice of words, i  won’t rewrite any lines.

6. This poem is about accepting pain.

leonell