Acrostic Poems

What is a Acrostic Poetry?



Acrostic poetry is fun and easy to learn form of short verse constructed so that the initial letters of each line taken consecutively form words or phrases - generally the overall subject of the poem. For example:

Quote:Mother

Mothers are special
Open to buy you gifts
Tuck you in
Hugs you
Excellent mom
Rinses the dishes

The term is derived from the Greek words akros, "at the end," and stichos, "line." A famous acrostic was made on the Greek for Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior:

Quote:Iesous
Christos,
Theou
Uios,
Soter
(ch and th being each one letter in Greek).

The initials spell ichthus, Greek for fish; hence the frequent use of the fish by early Christians as a symbol for Jesus.

Historical Background

Acrostic poems have been around for thousands of years.
The word acrostic was first applied to the prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl, which were written on leaves and arranged so that the initial letters of the leaves always formed a word. Acrostics were common among the Greeks of the Alexandrine period and with the Latin playwrights Ennuis and Plautus. In the bible, in the book of Psalms, if your Look up Psalm 119, you will find a special type of Acrostic poem in which each line begins with a letter of the alphabet, and then continues with each new line working through consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Medieval monks and poets also made this form of poetry popular during the Middle High German and Italian Renaissance periods.

In modern days, this technique was used to ingenious effect by Vladimir Nabokov in his story The Vane Sisters, by Edgar Allan Poe in its poem entitled simply An Acrostic, by David J Serana in its eulogizing of Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia), by Lewis Carrol's in the final chapter if its "Through the Looking-Glass", "A Boat, Beneath A Sunny Sky" that is an acrostic of the real Alice's name: Alice Pleasance Liddell, etc.

Quote:Serana to WIKIPEDIA

Wisdom systemized in a complex net
Information metropolis is set
Knowledge super way spins in liberty
I learn many things out of rafferty
People, events, places, things; organized
Exposed, refined, edited, scrutinized
Deleted, published; found truth, accepted
Information errors intercepted
An ingenuity unexcepted!

David J Serana

The Dutch national anthem (The William) is an acrostic: the first letters of its fifteen stanzas spell WILLEM VAN NASSOV. This was one of the hereditary titles of William of Orange (William the Silent), who introduces himself in the poem to the Dutch people.

How to Write Acrostic Poems?

Acrostic is one of the easiest poetry formats to use with young writers and presents an excellent introduction to the world of poetry.

It can be about any subject. This kind of poem can be written in different ways, but the simplest form is to put the letters that spell your subject down the side of your page. When you have done this then you go back to each letter and think of a word , phrase or sentence that starts with that letter and describes your subject, and give out your hidden message that's contained in this format, that can run forwards, or backwards.

There can be much more complex acrostics involving for example double acrostics, with words formed both by the beginning letters, as well as the ending letters of each word, or line in the poem. In the next great example by the poet Helen Brandenburg, you will discover that the last letters of the lines spell out "Louise Gluck" backwards:

Quote:To Gretel

Left alone in the forest—out of luck,
out of crumbs, you sense something in its sac
undulating. Always another snafu
in utero, you think. Ill will
sizzles its song
everywhere.

Give it a rest, Sis—
Lighten up, He says. But, for you, Lost Willi,
under every rock cobwebs wait. You stop. You
choose to look hard—give us no
kisses to cure evil.

Putting All Together

An acrostic is a poem which spells out an important word or idea. It is fun, still challenging task for poetry writers. They are provoked to utilize the best use of their chosen words, and to still try to arrange the best possible sentence construction, all within the limitations imposed by this unique form of writing poetry.

On the other hand, there are very few other requirements to the form. Acrostic poems don’t normally rhyme, which allow writers to think about language and word choice without having to rely on rhyme or meter.

A Simple set of roles the writer of Acrostic poems should stick to:

• Formed by writing a word vertically down the page
• One letter per line
• All capital letters
• Each line of poetry must begin with the letter on that line and must pertain to the word
• May use one word or a phrase
• Does not have to rhyme
• Use adjectives and phrases that describe the word
  

Quote:Poetry

Perhaps you have a wonderful idea to share,
Or you may dream in colors mankind has never seen.
Everyone else has no idea
That you live in vibrancy unknown.
Revealing your vision can shake the world
You simply must put it into words.

Butterfly.