THE MAD MAN

In the stillest hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whisper: 

First Self: Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and now I rebel. 

Second Self: Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given to me to be this madman’s joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts. It is I that would rebel against my weary existence. 

Third Self: And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would rebel against this madman. 

Fourth Self: I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was given me but odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would protest against serving this madman. 

Fifth Self: Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the fanciful self, the self of hunger and thirst, the one doomed to wander without rest in search of unknown things and things not yet created; it is I, not you, who would rebel. 

Sixth Self: And I, the working self, the pitiful labourer, who, with patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days into images and give the formless elements new and eternal forms--it is I, the solitary one, who would rebel against this restless madman. 

Seventh Self: How strange that you all would rebel against this man, because each and every one of you has a preordained fate to fulfil. Ah! could I but be like one of you, a self with a determined lot! But I have none, I am the do-nothing self, the one who sits in the dumb, empty nowhere and nowhen, while you are busy re-creating life. Is it you or I, neighbours, who should rebel? 

When the seventh self thus spake the other six selves looked with pity upon him but said nothing more; and as the night grew deeper one after the other went to sleep enfolded with a new and happy submission. 

But the seventh self remained watching and gazing at nothingness, which is behind all things.

 

Figurative Language

 

Metaphor:

• "And I, the working self, the pitiful laborer, who, with patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days"

• "here in this madman"

• "I dance  his brighter thoughts."

 

Personification:

• "I laugh at his laughter"

• "and with thrice winged fet sing his happy hours"

 

Software Findings Reoccurring Words

• Self, Rebel, Madman, Seventh, Night

• With these findings  we can conclude that this piece is about ones self which is portrayed in various aspects. 

 

Interpretation

My interpretation of "The Seven Selves"  consists of a conversation between seven men, each speaking about their unhappiness.

 

The seven sleves are represented as follows:

1. Pain and sorrow self

2. Joyous self

3. Love-sick self

4. Tempest-like self

5. Thinking self

6. Working self

7. Do-nothing self

 

The seven selves make up a madman. 

 

The poem describes a conversation between ones selves inside a madman, arguing with one another about self pity for their luck.  The poem concludes with the seventh self questioning their fate. This makes them reflect on their own purpose in live in comparison to the madman himself. With this poem we can examine the insanity inside ourselves. Through nothingness we can make sense of ourselves and the world we live in. Gibran wanted us to learn a lesson that life may not be easy, however we must pay close attention to the emptiness inorder to find true meaning. In other words, without purpose you are nothing. The author explores the selves that struggle with each other for merci. A man usually thinks he is one, but in reality is several beings inside himself that are locked in negativity. Until he becomes one he cannot have a fair idea of what he is at all.