Problem of the Study Objective of the Study Scope of the Study Significance of the Study Brief Description of the Prose Poetry

find out Kahlil Gibran’s point of view about self. Madison says in his article that Kahlil Gibran is a beautiful writer and one that gets his point across by painting a picture of life on how one should lead it. In no way does he demand utopianism form his readers. He simple provides examples and thought on how to approach and live a more fruitful and less complicated lifestyle. Kahlil Gibran’s prose poem is also arranged in meaningful lines. For the writer, each of his words is as if saying the general truth of this world. To find out the significance of this thesis, the writer uses library research by having focus on the analysis. A focus is needed to scope the study and limit the subject itself. The method research used by the writer in this thesis is library research by collecting all necessary information. The writer uses intrinsic and extrinsic approach to analyze the prose poetry. Intrinsic approach describe the image that found in those selected theme and extrinsic approach for relate it on self. The writer is following several steps; for example reading the total of the book to find the connection, if available, between each chapter and previous chapter, selecting the theme from all themes that written in “The Prophet” and analysis the data by finding its meaning.

1.2 Problem of the Study

To restrict the problem of study, this thesis will be guided by this question: • How is Kahlil Gibran’s point of view about self that reflected in his selected prose poetry? Universitas Sumatera Utara

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objective of this thesis is to answer the problem of the study to understand Kahlil Gibran’s point of view about self that reflected in his selected prose poetry.

1.4 Scope of the Study

In order to limit the discussing matter, this thesis concentrates on prose poetry that has the theme which has most connection with self and the aspects that influence process of developing manner of self. The writer focuses on meaning of the prose poetry that are related on self out of its structural and sound devices itself.

1.5 Significance of the Study

In order to make useful research, the writer describes the significances of this analysis theoretically and practically. Theoretically, this research is to enrich the literary work. Practically, this thesis can be reference for the other persons that are interested in this topic, to introduce about prose poetry briefly, to find out Kahlil Gibran’s point of view about self. Universitas Sumatera Utara CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Brief Description of the Prose Poetry

There are many books and journals write the history of the prose poetry, its characteristic, its genre, and some information about it. But, in this case, the writer has concluded some necessary idea about the prose poetry. For introduce the prose poetry, the writer chooses what OtaredHaidar 2008 says that though modern literary theorists seem to agree upon considering the prose poem as a genre in itself, working toward defining it an drawing its boundaries is still ongoing. The main difficulty comes from dual nature of this genre which is represented by its very name. In attempting to define the prose poem, a myriad of similar definitions that are only as elusive as the genre itself have produced by critics and poets. Despite the exhaustive search for a definition, critics still give what seem more like anti-definitions in their attempts to solve the mystery of the prose poem and to establish a definition for it. These statements seem to add the ambiguity of the genre. However, these anti-definitions are widely quoted and referred to by critics to underline the difficulties and challenges of studying the prose poem and of providing methods and approaches to deal with it. In their introduction, critics who write about the prose poem struggle with terms and definitions while attempting to introduce their subject to the readers in few plain words. The most comprehensive introductory account that tackles the subject and tries to define it is provided by Suzanne Bernard in her pioneering work about the prose poem. In her massive work, she includes scores of description, all of which could help in defining the genre. Nonetheless, she also starts her book by highlighting the challenges of such an endeavour. In her Universitas Sumatera Utara introduction, she quotes and endorses Morris Chaplin’s definition: ‘A genre of which no theorist has dared to declare rules’. The other definitions in her book deal with the features and characteristic of the prose poem. In her introduction, she provided her own definition of the genre describing it as being: ‘A rebellion against all types of formal tyranny, which prevent the poet from creating a private language for himself, and force him to put the flexible substance of his phrases into ready-made moulds.’ Monte 2000 also writes in his book ‘Invisible Fences Prose Poetry as a Genre in French and American Literature’ 2-8 that the most foolproof definition of prose poetry, “poetry written in prose,” sounds uncomfortably. The next best approach throws the question “What is prose poetry?” back at the questioner—“You tell me what ‘prose’ is and what ‘poetry’ is, and I will tell you what ‘prose poetry’ is”—to make the point that the two terms that constitute “prose poetry” are themselves difficult to define unambiguously. Recalling that prose poetry is or was once an oxymoron takes us in yet another direction: “prose poetry” is an abstraction meant to question generic boundaries and accordingly resists definition. But none of these approaches helps us much in recognizing a prose poem we might come across in our literary wandering, let alone help us read one. Maybe we are starting off too abstractly. While many critics attempt to define the external and internal factors that help determine the form of the prose poem, they do so almost universally in the context of prose poetry’s revolutionary or subversive impulse. It is as if one only bothers defining the prose poem’s constraints in order to show more effectively how it violates them. I do not deny prose poetry revolutionary potential, but I am anti essentialist when it comes to questions of form or genre: the fact that a poem is written in prose does not necessarily mean it is subversive. To be sure, no one ever takes the extreme essentialist position on the matter. Universitas Sumatera Utara

2.2 Finding the Meaning