<P> Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem giving an interpretation of the younger brother's perspective . </P> <P> The Parable of the Prodigal Son is also a recurring theme in the works of Rainer Maria Rilke, who interpreted the parable in a different way to the conventional reading . His version of the parable was not so concerned with redemption and the forgiveness of family; the love of the family, and human love in general, was seen as less worthy than unreciprocated love, which is the purest form of love . In loving the family less, the Son can love God more, even if this love is not returned . </P> <P> The theme of the Prodigal Son plays a major role in Anne Tyler's novel A Spool of Blue Thread . </P> <P> The Prodigal Son was also referred to in the play As You Like It, a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare . The Prodigal Son is also mentioned in Shakespeare's romance, The Winter's Tale (Act 4, Scene 4 line 89). </P>

Summary of the lost son in the bible