Analysis of Abou Ben Adhem
James Henry Leigh Hunt 1784 (Southgate, London) – 1859
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGG HHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111101 0111101111 010101011 10110101001 1101000111 010111111 0101000111 111010111 0101111101 1001111101 0111101111 0101001111 111011111 1111111101 0101010011 110110111 0101111111 011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 803 |
Words | 162 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 4 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 297 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 222 Views
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"Abou Ben Adhem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20106/abou-ben-adhem>.
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