# Abu Midjan — Poetry character guide

> Abu Midjan in Poetry by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0003-abu-midjan

## Snapshot

An old-story figure of captivity and song, invoked as the poet's companion in the long discipline of patience and praise.

## Who they are

Abu Midjan belongs to the collection's gallery of the bound and the faithful — the prisoner whose chains become, in MacDonald's hands, a form of service and a school of love. He stands beside the poet's own confessions: the heart laid on the altar that will not burn, the misty twilight of the soul, the longing to be gathered from broken fragments into a whole. He matters because he gives the poems their recurring posture — the servant who, though bound, is 'heir of earth and heaven, eternal child,' daring all truth and fearing nothing.

## In the story

### [Abu Midjan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/abu-midjan)

The protagonist, a warrior and poet who loves wine and battle, imprisoned for drinking, then freed to fight, ultimately renouncing wine.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters/abu_midjan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters