Your children are not your children. They are the son's and daughter's of Life's longing for itself. i) who quote these words to whom? ii) when does the speaker speak the words? iii) why does he speak these words?
Answers
Answer:
In this poem, Gibran suggests that children do not belong to their parents in an effort to show the true role of each soul in the great chain of being. Parents sometimes think of children as possessions to be guided through life, but here, Gibran suggests that children do not belong to anything but the future, as "their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow." The world they will inhabit will not be the world from which they emerge, and as the generations pass, the world is reshaped by those within it. As Life itself progresses, it longs only for itself, over and over, continuing the cycle of existence as each new child inherits and then passes on the world to another generation, which doesn't belong to them anymore than they belonged to their parents.
Creating a rap for this poem would be a great way to introduce younger children to the themes within it. Perhaps it could be contextualized as a popular, anti-authority or anti-parent/coming-of-age song like "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That particular song resonates with youth, and Gibran's stance also suggests that oftentimes, parents just don't understand their relationship to children. Some of the lines could be preserved, as the concept of "love" is something that many young children understand, but a line such as "And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you"" could easily be adapted to a tone along the lines of "you're not the boss of me."
Explanation: