Textbook Comprehension I (with answers)
1. "And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.' And he said:" Here 'he' refers to: a. her child. b. the Prophet. c. the poet. Answer: b. the Prophet.
2. 'Your children are not your children' means: a. they do not belong to their parents only. b. the children should have their own space. c. parents should not be possessive of their children. Answer: a. Children belong to Life, not only to their parents. (Options b and c follow from this idea, which is why the textbook calls these "teaching questions".)
3. 'They come through you, but are not from you' means: a. though parents give birth to their children they do not own them. b. children have independent personalities. c. parents should be indifferent to their children. Answer: a. Option c is clearly wrong - the Prophet asks parents to love their children.
4. According to the Prophet, what may be given to the children? Love. Parents may also give them shelter ("house their bodies"), but not their thoughts.
5. 'Their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow' means: a. children belong to the future. b. parents cannot shape their children's future. c. children have a different vision of life. Answer: a. children belong to the future.
6. 'The bows' and 'living arrows' refer to _ and _. Parents and children.
7. 'For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.' Discuss the contrast between the underlined phrases. The arrow that flies is the child - moving, free and going far into the future. The bow that is stable is the parent - steady and firm, staying behind to give strength. The contrast is between movement and stability. God loves both equally, so the parent's quiet, stable role is as valuable as the child's journey.
Textbook Comprehension II and III (model answers)
Q. Why does the prophet categorically state 'Your children are not your children'? (II-1) He wants to remind parents that children are not their property. Children are born of "Life's longing for itself"; they come through parents but not from them, and they belong to life and to the future. By stating it so firmly, he warns parents against being possessive.
Q. What does the metaphor of bows and arrows signify with regard to the parent-children relationship? (II-2) Parents are the bows and children are the living arrows. A bow gives the arrow its strength and direction but does not travel with it. In the same way, parents give children love, support and a strong start, and then must let them go forward into their own future. God, the archer, decides the target and bends the bow so the arrows go swift and far.
Q. According to the prophet, what attitude should parents have towards their children? (II-3) Parents should love and shelter their children but not be possessive. They should respect the children's own thoughts, not force their ideas on them, and not try to make children copies of themselves. They should accept the effort of parenting gladly, like a bow that bends willingly in the archer's hand.
Q. 'Parents' could stand as a metaphor for the older generation, leaders, religious heads or teachers. Offer different readings of the poem. (III-1)
- Older generation: each generation should not force its values on the next; the young must be free to build a new future.
- Leaders: leaders should guide citizens but not control their thoughts; people have their own will.
- Religious heads: they may guide followers towards goodness but should not dictate every belief.
- Teachers: a good teacher gives knowledge and support, like a bow, and lets students fly towards goals of their own choosing. In every reading the message is the same: guide, support and let go - do not possess.
Q. In the light of the poem, think of the different levels of freedom children must have in shaping their lives. (III-2) Children should have freedom of thought (to form their own opinions), freedom of choice in education and career, freedom to follow their own dreams and vision of the future, and freedom to grow as individuals rather than as copies of their parents. This freedom must still be supported by the parents' love, shelter and guidance - the stable bow.
Q. The poem does not focus merely on the lives of children, but also talks about the responsibility of parents. Discuss. (III-3) The poem gives parents clear duties. They must love and shelter their children, but respect their independence. They must not live in the past or try to make children like themselves. Above all, they must be a stable bow - strong, steady and willing to bend for the child's sake - so that children can go "swift and far". The poem says God loves the stable bow as much as the flying arrow, which honours the parents' responsibility.
Exam-Pattern Questions and Answers
Two-mark questions
Q1. Whom does the word 'bows' refer to in 'On Children'? The word 'bows' refers to the parents. Their children are the living arrows sent forth from them.
Q2. Why can parents not house their children's souls? Because children's souls dwell in the house of tomorrow. Parents cannot visit that future, not even in their dreams.
Q3. Why should parents not try to make their children like themselves? Because life goes forward, not backward, and does not linger with yesterday. Children belong to a new future.
Three-mark question (about 60 words)
Q4. What does the Prophet say parents may and may not give their children? Parents may give their children love, but not their thoughts, because children have their own thoughts. They may house their bodies, but not their souls, because children's souls dwell in the house of tomorrow. They may strive to be like their children, but should not seek to make children like themselves, because life does not go backward.
Four-mark question (about 100 words)
Q5. Parents should not be too possessive of their children and should not try to live their dreams through their children. How does Kahlil Gibran justify this in the poem 'On Children'? (asked in the 2025 board paper) Gibran says children are not the property of their parents; they are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself, coming through parents but not from them. Parents may give love but not their thoughts, since children have their own. They may house their bodies but not their souls, which dwell in the house of tomorrow that parents cannot visit. Life goes forward, so parents should not make children like themselves. Parents are only bows, and children are living arrows sent forth by God, the archer, towards His own mark. Parents must bend gladly and let their children fly.
[Exam Tip] — Use the poem's own phrases as the backbone of the answer: "not your children", "love but not your thoughts", "house of tomorrow", "bows" and "living arrows".