Page 55 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit
P. 55
“Abou Ben Adhem”
by Leigh Hunt, page 32
Vocabulary
[none]
1. What is the “it” of the poem’s fourth line?
The speaker is referring to his bedroom.
2. In the second line of this poem, the words “deep,” “dream,” and “peace” rhyme. What is
the literary term for this repetition of interior vowel sounds within a short section?
The literary term is assonance.
3. In your own words, what question does Abou ask the angel in his room?
Abou asks the angel what it is writing in its book of gold.
4. What is the angel’s reply to Abou’s question? How does Abou react?
The angel tells Abou that he is writing the names of those who love the Lord, and reveals
that Abou’s name was not on this list. Abou then asks the angel to write him down as one
who “loves his fellow man.”
5. Why do you believe, at the end of this poem, Abou’s name “led all the rest” on the list of
those who God had blest? What is Hunt trying to tell his reader by ending his poem this
way?
Hunt seems to infer that God loves most not those who worship him best, but those who
love and care for all men most.
T-37
