Acrostics

Acrostic poems spell out a word or phrase with the first letter of each line; this word or phrase then acts as a theme or message of the poem. Here is an example of an acrostic poem to illustrate this form:

Sunshine warming my toes,

Underwater fun with my friends.

Making homemade ice cream on the porch,

Many long nights catching fireflies.

Early morning walks to the creek,

Reveling in the freedom of lazy days.

As many of you can probably also relate to, without even knowing the name of the form of poetry I was adhering to, I was writing acrostic poems in elementary school. We wrote acrostic poems using our names, our friends' names, our favorite food, our favorite hobby etc. Without any strict rules regarding rhyme or syllables per line, acrostic poems allow a lot of freedom, which made these poems a lot easier to write as a 3rd grader than some others.

Although the most common style of acrostics has the word or phrase found down the beginning of the poem, sometimes it can be found down the middle or end of the poem. There is also the double acrostic style in which there is more than one grouping of letters that form the name of the subject. In the example below, the initial and last letters of each line both spell out the name “Stroud.”

Set among hills in the midst of five valleyS,

This peaceful little market town we inhabiT

Refuses (vociferously!) to be a conformeR.

Once home of the cloth it gave its name tO,

Uphill and down again its streets lead yoU.

Despite its faults it leaves us all charmeD.

                                      -- by Paul Hansford