A Tear and a Smile contains 56 parables, stories, and poems. It is considered the most important addition to the canon of Gibran's writing. Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer. As a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. His Romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, and he is still celebrated as a literary hero.