Abstract

Sand and Foam, one of the masterpieces of the Lebanon poet Kahlil Gibran, expresses the poet’s major concerns over life and death, love and beauty and good and evil in a poetic form. This thesis attempts to analyze Kahlil Gibran’s philosophical, religious and aesthetic expressions in his Sand and Foam so as to explore its value as a work of art.

Key words: Kahlil Gibran, life and death, good and evil, religion

摘 要

《沙与沫》是黎巴嫩诗人纪伯伦的代表作之一。作品以散文诗的形式阐明了作者对人生、爱情、善恶与生死等重大问题的理解。本文旨在通过对纪伯伦《沙与沫》中哲学、宗教和美学思想的分析来探究和发掘沙与沫的文学价值。

关键词： 卡里•纪伯伦； 生与死； 善与恶； 宗教

1. Introduction: 
Kahlil Gibran, known as a Lebanon poet, writer and painter, is called artistic genius and Lebanon’s pride in the literary world. He is the main founder of the modern novel, art and prose in the Arabic world, and one of the blazers of Arabic literary style in the 20th century. His later works are written in English, and are peaks of his individual artistic works. Gibran’s works, renowned and widely circulated, enjoy great popularity in the world. His masterpiece ，like The Prophet, Sand and Foam are sought-after, and Gibran’s boom is prolonged. Gibran thinks rationally about serious and solemn, romantic and lyrical arias in his works. "Love and beauty" is the eternal theme of his works, and most of them are filled with aesthetic implication, religious ideas and profound philosophical thinking.
In China, because of the tireless efforts of Bing Xin and other literary ancestors, there are also many Gibran fans. A large number of monographs and articles have been published, such as “Aesthetic Implication of Indiasporic Writings by American-based Writers” (Meng Shaoyi, Tianjin normal university), “Analysis of Gibran’s National and Cultural Identity” (Wang Hongbo, 2011), “Gibran's Multiple Views on Religion and Philosophy” (Cai Degui, 2004), etc. However, most of the above studies focus on Gibran's nationality, philosophy, religion, his immigration status, his family background and his love. There is a really small number of studies emphasizing discourse analysis and the scrutiny of the words; studies of Gibran’s thoughts are even rarer.