LEIGH HUNT’S FAMOUS POEM

 

LEIGH HUNT’S FAMOUS POEM

The British poet, essayist, critic and journalist Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) had his full name as James Henry Leigh Hunt. But he was popularly known as Leigh Hunt. He co-founded a leading intellectual journal The Examiner which expounded radical principles in politics and literature. He was a prolific writer. One of his special qualifications was that he knew Italian which his fellow writers Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt did not know.

            With what we are concerned here is one of his most famous poems ABOU BEN ADHEM.  It is about an Arab Muslim saint and Sufi Mystic Ibrahim son of Adhem (?AD777). The poem written by Leigh Hunt has the characteristic of a fable. One night an angel appears in Abou’s room, writing in a book of gold the names of those who love the Lord but when he reappears the next day Abou’s name is  not there in the list. He is surprised and suggests to the angel to write him as one “that loves his fellow men.” The angel writes as requested  and comes again the next night with the names of those whom love of God had blessed, “And, lo ! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest!”

            The moral of the poem is that it is more important to be with human beings in their weal and woe than to worship God as a ritual. Those who love God’s creation are better than those who love God Himself. Love of God is abstract, just theoretical ; love of humanity is concrete and practical. That is the real and the best love.

                                                            *********

G. R. Kanwal

29^th October 2023