Respone to “On Marriage”

While reading “On Marriage” by Khalil Gibran, an image of “ideal couple” came into my mind. Since marriage is taken as one of the most important decisions in life, everyone wants to get loving, caring, and honest life partner. In every culture marriage is taken as a sacred thread that binds two hearts and souls together forever. If marriage is the reason for some people to be happy then it can be the cause of tears for others. So having mutual understanding, love, trust, care, and most important respect are must for long lasting marriage.
I think whatever the poet has said in this poem for the married couples, it is not possible to do them all in practical life. Though the advices given by Gibran are very important to be considered for happy conjugal life, following every of those suggestions is not that easy and practical in my assumption. We people are very sensitive regarding love and relations. However, living our lives in such a pure and dignified love is really impossible. Love may be true, feelings may be true but time and circumstances greatly affect the relation and bring lots of changes in people. The way poet has described love and relation in this poem is very romantic and can be imagined in only dream from my point of view.
Loving each other, but staying in distances, enjoying together, but letting each other to be lonely is something that happen only in fairy tale, movies or dramas. I guess there is no one in this world who would like to be in distance and be alone without the one they love. It is really difficult because I think everyone is possessive about their love which is the main reason for getting hurt in any relationship. Jealousy, anger, attitude, and doubt always arise in relation which further result into betrayal and heart breaks. Despite loving someone and wanting to be with someone, sometimes circumstances compel people to be alone and to let go of the people whom we love. I can feel what Gibran has mentioned in his poem, but being practical won’t allow me to be such amiable. Instead, I want no distance in between me and my beloved.


On Marriage

In his poem “On Marriage”, Kahlil Gibran talks about how relationships should flourish after marriage. He says that when two people marry one another, they are bonded in a close relationship with each other. They are always together as if they were born together and would die together. They are so intimate with one another that there are no spaces between them. Furthermore, he says that if you marry someone, you must love the person, but there should always be limitation, so he talks about having spaces so that there would always be pleasant space like a heaven between them. He suggests that people who are married should not be crazy about each other. They should move hand in hand but should never depend on each other’s life. In the poem, he has used the symbol of the sea which represents love and also the souls of the lovers. It means there should always be endless love between the two lovers similar to the flowing sea between the two shores. The two loving souls should be attached with similar affection towards each other. On the other hand, he also says that the two lovers should never love each other in the same way. If they are similar, a certain conflict can rise between them. For example, he has used the image of drinking from the same cup. If the two lovers share similar affection towards each other, their passion for love fades away as fast as the tea of two people who are drinking from the same cup. He also adds that the two married lovers should always be with each other but should not completely live for each other.

In my view, Kahlil Gibran wants to give people the message of life after marriage. Through his poem, we can get some ideas on how the marriage life lasts longer. It is true that there should be some spaces and some limitations between the lovers. After marriage, people often change their attitude and they transform themselves in order to be a good couple with similar tastes and similar attitudes, but love does not mean compromising one’s own life for the well being of the others. The two lovers must always be ready to be there in need but should never interfere in each other’s lives. We must share our love with each other but should never give our heart to others. If we do so, we will be likely to affect our own lives. If we give everything to others, we will forget our aim and our desires. Therefore, life is not to live for others, but is to enjoy with others.