1Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
2Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
3And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
4Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
5An angel writing in a book of gold:—
6Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
7And to the presence in the room he said,
8"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
9And with a look made of all sweet accord,
10Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
11"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
12Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
13But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
14Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
15The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
16It came again with a great wakening light,
17And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
18And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
"Abou Ben Adhem" is a poem by Leigh Hunt, a key figure of the Romantic movement in England. The poem focuses on an event in the life of the Sufi saint Ibrahim bin Adham (anglicized to Abou Ben Adhem). Ben Adhem encounters an angel, who is writing a record of those who love God. Learning his name isn't on this list, Ben Adhem instructs the angel to mark him down as one who loves his "fellow men." The next night, the angel returns with a second list: those who are blessed by God. Ben Adhem's name is at the top this time, suggesting that God favors those who love their fellow human beings—indeed, that love for other people is the best way to express love for God. Hunt is not particularly well-known for his poetry, and is better remembered for his role in facilitating the work of other poets at the time (such as Keats and Shelly). "Abou Ben Adhem" is one of a handful of Hunt's poems still commonly read.
The speaker blesses Abou Ben Adhem, who has just woken up from a deep, peaceful sleep. Looking around his moonlit bedroom, Ben Adhem notices that the room is filled with a sense of pure loveliness, like that of a blooming lily, by the presence of an angel who is writing in a golden book. Ben Adhem's peaceful life thus far has made him fearless, and so he asks the angel what it is writing. Looking up compassionately, the angel answers that it is making a list of the people who love God. Ben Adhem asks if his name is on this list. It isn't, replies the angel. Unworried, Ben Adhem implores the angel to record his name as some that loves other people instead.
The angel fulfills Ben Adhem's request before disappearing. The next night it returns in a blaze of light, holding a new list of people blessed by God. Ben Adhem's name is at the top.
“Abou Ben Adhem” is a short, fable-like poem that suggests people can best express love for God by simply loving their fellow human beings. Compassion and empathy are presented as the true principles of religion, above the need to pay lip service to a jealous or attention-hungry God. In fact, the Lord in this poem is so approving of Abou Ben Adhem’s commitment to his fellow man that it is Ben Adhem who becomes the most “blest” in the end—and not those who have focussed their efforts in demonstrating their love for God. The poem ultimately argues that love of humankind is love of God—because people are God’s creation. In essence, the poem is saying that anyone who claims to love God, without putting this into practice first through a love for their fellow human beings, doesn’t really love God at all.
The angel’s two separate visits to Ben Adhem present two different religious perspectives, drawing a distinction between love of other people and what the poem suggests is a more superficial love of God. The first visit wakes Ben Adhem from a “deep dream of peace.” This hints to the reader that there is something fundamentally right about Ben Adhem’s worldview—after all, there are no moral dilemmas or anxieties keeping him up at night! The wish in the first line that his “tribe” may increase also suggests that this is a man worth emulating; in other words, the world could use more men like Ben Adhem.
Yet Ben Adhem isn’t on the angel’s first list, which records the names of those who love God. That a man filled with such “exceeding peace” would be missing suggests that there’s something off about this list itself. And the fact that this list is printed in “a book of gold”—a flashy and expensive material—further hints at its superficial nature. There is a gentle suggestion that these are people who act out of self-interest and self-preservation, and, in contrast to Ben Adhem, focus their faith on flattering a higher power. The poem implies by its end that this book is a shiny ledger filled with people who are very concerned with looking like they love God.
That’s why, when Ben Adhem learns from the angel that he is not down as one of those who “love the Lord,” he doesn’t grow worried or panic. In fact, his response comes to him readily—instead, he wants to be recorded as “one that loves his fellow men.” Ben Adhem knows that because God created human beings, loving of God isn’t meaningful without also loving other people.
The poem, then, can be seen as a kind of test—instead of begging to have his love for God officially acknowledged and confirmed, Ben Adhem chooses instead to demonstrate love his love of God by prioritizing his love for humanity. In other words, he charitably puts others before himself—an idea that is arguably at the core of both Christianity and Islam.
In its short final stanza the poem clearly endorses Ben Adhem’s perspective and urges its readers to look at the world in the same way. By embodying the principle of universal love—and trusting that this brings him closer to God—Ben Adhem gains God’s approval ahead of everyone else. Love of humanity isn’t better than love of God—it is love of God, and God blesses Ben Adhem because he understands this core religious principle. The poem, then, is unambiguous in terms of its moral argument. Beautifully and succinctly expressed, it asks its readers to place love of humanity at the forefront of daily life—and argues that, through this, they become closer to God. In times of entrenched religious differences, this message is perhaps more relevant than ever.
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:—
The poem begins by establishing its narrative voice. This is a speaker whose main purpose is to relate to the humanity of Abou Ben Adhem. The use of Ben Adhem’s name as both the title of the poem and the first words makes it clear that he is the central focus here. Yet the poem's actually speaker is not entirely detached, as the bracketed phrase in the first line makes clear. This is an apostrophe, in which the speaker makes clear their approval of Ben Adhem by blessing him. The speaker hopes for more people like Ben Adhem in the world—and the rest of the poem will justify this position.
The use of “tribe” is also religiously evocative, harking back to the idea of different peoples as distinct “tribes” that runs throughout Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The speaker doesn’t want Ben Adhem’s tribe to increase in the sense of his literal descendants growing more numerous; instead, this is a point about spirituality, religious life, and love of humanity. The tribe referred to is the group of people who actively love their “fellow men”—by showing compassion, empathy, and selflessness.
Abou Ben Adhem is the anglicized name of the Sufi saint, Ibrahim ibn Adham. Leigh Hunt read about him in Barthélemy d'Herbelot’s Bibliothèque orientale, first published in 1697. Ben Adhem is a semi-historical figure whose story took on mythical properties. He famously renounced his position as a king to become an ascetic—someone who practices a devoutly religious life and rejects material wealth. This is important to consider when looking at the poem: the poem also rejects one way of life and argues for another.
The second line relates how Ben Adhem was awoken from a “deep dream of peace.” The alliteration and consonance here make the “depth” of that peace all the more pronounced—and indeed, makes the reader wonder about the source of that peace (later revealed to be an assured love for mankind). The assonance (“deep dream of peace") serves a similar function.
The angel’s appearance in Ben Adhem’s room brings with it a particular adjustment of the light—making it more “rich.” The use of the word “rich” deliberately hints at the conflict between material and spiritual wealth—likewise the fact that the book in which the angel writes is “gold.” The goldness is suggestive of both religious authority and material riches (the kind of which Ben Adhem rejects). Lilies have a long-standing association with purity and light, and perhaps this is why Hunt opts for this particular simile here. The consonance across “like a lily in bloom, / an angel” has a luxurious /l/ sound, suggesting the vibrancy of the angel's visit.
It’s possible that the poem tells the story of the “Night of Records,” in which it is believed that God decides people’s destiny for the following year—including whether they will be summoned to be with God through death. While this is perhaps in the background of the poem, Hunt’s emphasis is very much on the specific distinction between love of humankind and love of God (and how they are indispensable from one another).
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."
Unlock all 278 words of this analysis of Lines 6-10 of “Abou Ben Adhem,” and get the Line-by-Line Analysis for every poem we cover.
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Get LitCharts A+"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 blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
The golden book in which the angel writes in the first stanza can be read as representing a shallow form of religious love. Gold is an expensive material and a book made from it would be decidedly impressive. While this in part simply reflects the power of the angel and/or the Lord—who's not going to write in just any old notebook—it also subtly suggests a certain preoccupation with appearances. The names recorded in the angel's first list profess love of God, yet, as the rest of the poem reveals, they don't seem to actually put God's teachings into practice as well as Abou Ben Adhem does. In other words, they are implied to be highly concerned with just appearing as though they love God.
Ben Adhem, by contrast, notably doesn't seem to care that his name doesn't appear in the book at first; he is not concerned with his devotion to God being acknowledged in a fancy book because he's confident that he's expressing genuine love of God through his actions.
It's worth noting that the semi-historical figure of Abou Ben Adhem is said to have rejected the trappings of material wealth, and as such would likely have been unimpressed by a flashy golden book. This is reflected in the poem, as he focuses on caring for his fellow human beings rather than worrying about aggrandizing himself.
Apostrophe occurs once in "Abou Ben Adhem"—in the very first line. The speaker, who is fairly detached throughout as part of the overall narrative style of the poem, interjects here using parentheses. At the mention of Abou Ben Adhem's name, the speaker offers him a kind of verbal blessing: "may his tribe increase!"
It's not specified to whom this blessing is addressed; rather, it is a general remark that perhaps has its ultimate target in God. It shows that the speaker of the poem thinks approvingly of Abou Ben Adhem and sees something illustrative in the example of his life that follows. The apostrophe makes clear that the speaker would like Abou Ben Adhem's "tribe" to increase—that is, the speaker believes there should be more people like Abou Ben Adhem in the world. Essentially, this is because, if everyone were to follow Abou Ben Adhem's example of loving their "fellow men" (and women!), the world would be a more peaceful, spiritually richer place.
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Get LitCharts A+Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
Abou Ben Adhem is a Sufi saint who reportedly gave up being king in order to live a simpler, more religious existence.
"Abou Ben Adhem" is comprised of two stanzas, the first with fourteen lines and the second with four. As the poem is a fable-like narrative in two parts, the poem's form is split into two as well. This represents both the two separate visits from the angel to Abou Ben Adhem, and the two types of love that the poem compares (love for God and love for humanity). The poem's form thus mirrors the poem's central idea that people have a choice about how best to love God—whether by going through the motions of worship, or embodying the ideal of universal love by treating others with compassion and empathy.
The first stanza is 14 lines and thus echoes the form of a sonnet, though its rhyme scheme does not match that of a sonnet. The poem could almost end after line 14, with the reader left to ponder the implications of Ben Adhem's words. Importantly, however, the second stanza brings with it God's reaction to Ben Adhem's commitment to universal love.
Generally speaking, the meter of "Abou Ben Adhem" is iambic pentameter. This is perfectly exemplified by line 17:
And showed | the names | whom love | of God | had blest,
However, many of the lines vary one foot or another. In line 2, for example, the poem employs a spondee:
deep dream
The use of two stresses in this line works with the alliteration of the /d/ sounds in these words to emphasize the depth of Ben Adhem's peacefulness.
In line 10, the poem substitutes a trochee for the first foot:
Answered, | "The names | of those | who love | the Lord."
The start of this line is bold and declarative, thus embodying the majesty and religious authority that the angel possesses as a direct servant of God.
A mirroring of line 10 is achieved in line 14, which could either be read with the scansion as above or with straight iambic pentameter, i.e.:
Write me | as one | that loves | his fel- | low men.
or
Write me | as one | that loves | his fel- | low men.
or, perhaps, even with another spondee:
Write me | as one | that loves | his fel- | low men.
Either way, Ben Adhem's speech matches the angel's in terms of its rhythm and tone, suggesting to the reader that Ben Adhem's way of being brings him close to God as well. Whether the stress is on "write," "me," or both, Ben Adhem asserts confidence his in response to the angel, underscoring his faith in his way of showing his love for God.
The consistent iambs in the last couplet affirm the poem's fable-like quality, the regularity of the rhythm suggesting the ending has moral authority.
And showed | the names | whom love | of God | had blest,
And lo! | Ben Ad- | hem's name | led all | the rest.
The rhyme scheme in "Abou Ben Adhem" is extremely simple, employing rhyming couplets throughout:
AABBCCDD
...and so forth right up through the end of the poem.
The rhymes are pure and full throughout—a.k.a. perfect rhymes—and give the story told by the poem a sense of easy forward motion.
The couplet as a narrative form harks back to medieval verse, and was used to great effect by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. The 18th century poetry world thus perceived a strong link between couplets and narrative, and perhaps that explains Leigh Hunt's decision to follow the couplet rhyme scheme. This is a poem that tells a story, rather than explores an idea or image—and the expectancy of the rhyme can help the story travel from its beginning to its end.
The speaker in this poem is an omniscient narrator, a kind of fly on the wall that witnesses an event of spiritual and religious importance. The speaker is intended to be relatively unseen/unheard, in order to allow for the narrative to unfold and to help the reader maintain focus on Ben Adhem and his story. This lends the text an air of objectivity, as though it is a fable handed down over centuries and removed from its original authorship.
However, there are two distinct interventions made by the speaker that give an indication of their own view on Abou Ben Adhem's story. The first is in the very first line, when the speaker utters the parenthetical "may his tribe increase!" Clearly, the speaker feels an affinity with Ben Adhem's view of the world—and it is up to the rest of the poem to explain why. This is a kind of blessing tied to the mention of Ben Adhem's name (similar to the use of "Peace Be Upon Him" that traditionally follows any mention of the prophet Mohammed).
The second is in the final line, with the usage of "lo!" This exclamation expresses an element of surprise, which helps to highlight the fact that Ben Adhem might have expected to be excluded from the angel's second list too.
The poem takes place in the bedroom (most probably) of Abou Ben Adhem over the course of two nights. The moonlit room is depicted as a decidedly calm place, in which Ben Adhem sleeps the restful slumber of a man very much at peace. This quickly establishes the noble character of Ben Adhem, whose peaceful abode suggests he's likely doing something right in his life and is setting a good example for others to learn from.
The entrance of the angel brightens the room, filling it with a pure whiteness suggested by the reference to "a lily in bloom" in line 4. When the angel returns later in the poem, it again fills the room with a bright light that wakes Ben Adhem up. That the angel repeatedly visits Ben Adhem in a personal chamber suggests his importance in the eyes of
God, even if—at first—he does not appear on the angel's list of men "who love the Lord."
Though not remembered as one of its great poets, Leigh Hunt was a key figure of the British Romantic poetry scene. Romanticism was broadly concerned with a focus on emotion, love of nature, and the "sublime" (essentially, something that evokes a sense of extraordinary thought and feeling). The Romantics as a label is generally said to cover poets such as Percy Shelley, John Keats, William Blake, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Coleridge. As with most labels, the simplicity of the term masks the complex relationships that helped facilitate the works of the movement's poets. Leigh Hunt was just that—a master facilitator. His endorsement and tireless commitment helped bring the work Byron, Keats, Shelley, and essayist William Hazlitt into public view.
With his brother, John, Leigh Hunt founded the influential newspaper The Examiner, which published contemporary poetry, essays, and think pieces, and which aimed to pursue "truth for its sole object." Hunt's particular circle of poets was sometimes referred to disparagingly as the Cockney School, which in essence was a targeted criticism of these writers' perceived working class upbringing (and, by extension, unworthiness).
In summary, Hunt is important to Romanticism less as a poet than as an individual deeply involved in the movement's development and public visibility. Among his other poems, perhaps only "Jenny Kissed Me" is commonly read nowadays.
Early-19th century Britain was a time of upheaval and competing worldviews. Hunt and his circle looked approvingly at the French Revolution of 1789, feeling an affinity with its (supposed) expression of fraternity, equality, and freedom. "Abou Ben Adhem" as a poem embodies a kind of radical combination of all three, with Abou Ben Adhem freed from the constraints of proving his worthiness by the knowledge that treating others as equal members of the human family is, ultimately, the best expression of loving God.
Leigh Hunt did not shy away from public criticism of figures of authority, and he and his two brothers were imprisoned in 1813 for attacking Prince Regent George (later King George IV) in The Examiner. Hunt and his associates were attracted to Italy, and believed that from there they would be able to publish freely without fear of censorship or retribution. In Italy, Hunt aimed to create a journal called The Liberal alongside Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. The idea, however, was short-lived, ultimately put off course by the untimely death of Shelley, who drowned at sea.
Ben Adhem himself was a quasi-mythical figure, partly based on a real person and partly the product of centuries of story-telling. His life was written about by the legendary Persian poet, Rumi, in his Masnavi.
Read Other Poems and a Biography of Hunt — Further resources provided by the Poetry Foundation.
The Funeral of Shelley Painting — A painting by Louis Fournier that depicts Leigh Hunt at his friend and fellow Romantic poet Percy Shelley's funeral. Hunt is the second from the left of the main figures by the body.
Hunt's Essays — A collection of essays published by Leigh Hunt.
The Manuscript of "Abou Ben Adhem" — An image of the poem as written by Hunt.
A Reading of "Abou Ben Adhem" — A good reading of the poem (accompanied by an unsettling animation).