Eliot's and gibran's understanding of the essence of being human

Abstract

As we explore the great works of Thomas Stearns Eliot in his poem “The Waste Land” and Gibran Khalil Gibran in his book The Prophet, it is important to place these two masterpieces in the context of the early twentieth century, when everything seemed to be in a state of change. The world was moving from the Victorian era to the modern age with its rapid industrialisation, global conflict and rising existential questions. Artists and writers were trying to make sense of this new world, chasing the complex piece of the human experience in the chaos of that change. These two works in particular show simultaneously the anxieties and hopes of their time. “The Waste Land” is a modernist work that criticises and captures the sense of disillusionment and despair after World War I. On the other hand, there was G.K. Gibran's The Prophet, full of optimism towards humanity, to guide and invite us to cultivate our own inner wisdom and spiritual growth. By synthesising what other scholars have said about the two works, and adding some new ideas of our analysis, this dissertation will help us to understand how literature can change and help to learn more about the human condition, also it proves that what Eliot and Gibran wrote remains applicable even today; people from all over the world can recognise their ideas on a global scale.