Acrostic Poem On River? Best 75 Answer

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What is an acrostic?

Acrostic is a fun poetic form that anyone can write. You only have a few simple rules, and this lesson will teach you how to create your own acrostic poems.

First of all, an acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line form a word or sentence. The word or phrase can be a name, a thing, or whatever you like. When children write acrostics, they often use their own first name, or sometimes a friend’s first name.

Usually the first letter of each line is capitalized. This makes it easier to see the word spelled vertically on the page.

Acrostics are easy to write because they don’t have to rhyme and you don’t have to worry about the rhythm of the lines. Each line can be as long or as short as you want.

Creating an acrostic in five easy steps

To create an acrostic, follow these five simple steps:

Decide what you want to write about. Write your word vertically. Think of words or phrases that describe your idea. Place your brainstorming words or phrases on the lines that start with the same letters. Fill in the remaining lines to create a poem.

Now let me show you how to follow these steps.

The first step is to decide what you want to write an acrostic about. I recommend you start by writing an acrostic based on your name or your favorite activity, whatever that might be. It doesn’t matter if your favorite activity is soccer, video games, chocolate, music, pizza, movies or anything else.

An ice cream acrostic

For example, I’m particularly fond of ice cream, so I decided to write an acrostic about ice cream. Start by writing the word “ICE CREAM” on the side like this:

I

C

E

C

R

E

A

M

Next, in each line, you want to say something about ice cream. A good way to do this is to brainstorm lots of ideas. I wrote down a list of all the ice cream flavors I could think of, including Chocolate Chip, Strawberry, Rocky Road, and others. Then I put them in a list wherever they would fit, like this:

ice cream

I

Cookies & Cream.

English toffee.

chocolate chip.

rocky road.

E

Almond Fudge.

M

You will notice that I didn’t fill in all the lines. That’s because I couldn’t think of any flavors that started with “I” and I could only think of one flavor that started with “E”. Also, I thought I’d do something different with the last line to make it an ending for the poem and not just another flavor.

Finally, I filled in the missing lines as follows:

ice cream

I love every taste.

Cookies & Cream.

English toffee.

chocolate chip.

rocky road.

Even strawberry and

Almond Fudge.

Mmmmmmm.

Well, just as you can write acrostics about things you like, you can also write them about things you don’t like, like chores, homework, and so on. Here is a sample acrostic about homework.

A homework acrostic

You can’t just write about things you like, such as B. ice cream, but also about things you don’t like. For example, if you don’t like homework, you could try writing a poem about it. Start by writing the word “HOMEWORK” down the page:

H

O

M

E

W

O

R

K

Next, brainstorm as many words and phrases as you can think of. Here are a few that came to mind:

read for hours. Write. Not my favourite. Every day. I would rather watch TV. Makes me mad. Overwhelming. difficult to do.

Notice that some of these words and phrases begin with the letters of the word “homework.” I pasted these where I saw they would go:

homework

difficult to do

Overwhelming,

M

Every day

Write

O

read for hours.

K

Eventually I found a way to fill in the rest of the words and even give it an ending. Here is the finished acrostic:

homework

Difficult to do and sometimes

Overwhelming,

My teacher gives us homework

Every single day!

Write for hours

or

read for hours.

Children need a break!

A Minecraft acrostic

Here’s another acrostic I recently created with the help of kids from across the country during an online author visit:

Minecraft

Minecraft.

I love it.

There is no doubt about it.

Explore, build, fight

Creepers, zombies and skeletons.

walking around for hours.

A

fun

time for everyone!

things to remember

Here are a few things to think about as you start writing your own acrostics:

Acrostic can be anything! Names are a common theme. Try writing one with your best friend’s name and giving it to him or her as a gift. You can use single words, phrases, or even entire sentences in your acrostic.

Finally, remember that acrostic poems are one of the easiest and most fun ways to create your own poetry. Give it a try and see what you can come up with.

worksheet

Writing a poem isn’t about stitching a few words together into charming sentences. It’s so much deeper than that. Writing poetry is a bridge that allows people to express their feelings and makes others live every single word they read. Poetry should educate people, lead them away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and compassion. Poetry writing aims to help this community understand life better and live it more passionately. PoemHunter.com contains an enormous number of famous poems from around the world, by both classical and modern poets. You can read as many as you like and also submit your own poems to share your writings with all our poets, members and visitors.

helped me a lot. And my teacher was very happy with what I wrote and she recited the whole poem in class. Thanks wikiHow for your help.”

…”

“Since I’m in the poets’ club, my teacher asked me to write an acrostic…I didn’t get ideas, I got wikiHow

poetry is. . . Lyrics without the music? write rhymes? A bunch of comparisons and abstract images that feel like a code for the reader to decipher?

The answer to all of the above questions is yes, but poetry is much more than that. Poetry is a broad literary category, covering everything from bawdy limericks to memorable song lyrics to the sentimental couplets found in greeting cards. The lack of rules in poetry can make it feel hard to define, but poetry is also so much fun to write.

If you’ve ever wondered how to write a poem, read on. Writing poetry doesn’t have to be daunting – we’ll demystify the process and walk you through it step-by-step.

Write with confidence Grammarly helps you choose the perfect words. Write with Grammarly

what is a poem

A poem is a unique piece of poetry.

Poems don’t have to rhyme; they don’t have to conform to any particular format; and they don’t have to use a specific vocabulary or deal with a specific topic. But here’s what they need to do: Use words artistically by using figurative language. In a poem, form is just as important as function—perhaps even more so.

In contrast, prose is writing that follows standard sentence and paragraph structure. Although prose takes many different forms and tones, it largely mimics human speech patterns.

The purpose of a poem

Poetry expresses emotions and conveys ideas, but that’s not all it can do. Poets tell stories, teach, and even convey hidden messages through poetry. When you hear music with lyrics, you hear poetry.

When writing poetry, keep your goal in mind. Do you write to evoke emotion? Performing your poem at an open mic night? To get a good grade on your homework? While there are no hard and fast rules for writing poetry, there are some basic guidelines to keep in mind:

Show, don’t say. The aim is to arouse emotions in the reader.

Less can be more. While it’s perfectly acceptable to write long, flowery verses, using simple, concise language is also effective. Choice of words and length of the poem are up to you.

It’s okay to break grammatical rules if it helps you express yourself.

elements of poetry

Key elements that distinguish poetry from other types of literature include tone, rhythm, rhyme, and format. The first three of these are obvious when you hear poetry read aloud. The latter is most evident when reading poetry.

One thing poetry has in common with other types of literature is the use of literary devices. Poems, like other types of creative writing, often use allegory and other types of figurative language to communicate themes.

sound

In many cases, poetry is most effective when heard rather than read. With this in mind, poets often create sounds, whether to be pleasing or poignant, or simply to emphasize key phrases or images through words. Read this short poem “The Cold Wind Blows” by Kelly Roper aloud and listen to the sounds the letters and words make:

Who knows why the cold wind blows

Or where it goes or what it knows.

It only flows in passionate labor pains

Until it finally slows down and settles into rest.

Hear the repeated “Ose” sound and how it mimics the sound of gusts of wind? Poets create sound in a variety of ways, such as alliteration, assonance, and consonance.

rhythm

Poetry has rhythm. That’s often what makes making music so appealing.

The rhythmic structure of a poem is known as meter. Meter refers to:

The number of syllables in each line

The stressed and unstressed syllables in each line

These syllables are grouped to form feet, units that make up a line of poetry. A foot generally consists of two or three syllables, and each combination of two or three stressed and unstressed syllables has a unique name.

You probably know the term iambic pentameter from English class. It is common in high school English classes because Shakespeare wrote in it a lot and Shakespeare is read a lot in high school English classes. An iambus is a two-syllable foot where the second syllable is stressed: duh-DUH. Pentameter means that each line in the poem has five feet, or ten syllables in total.

The iambic pentameter is just one of the many types of rhythm that a poem can have. Other types of feet include the trochee, two syllables where the first syllable is stressed (DUH-duh), and the dactyl, three syllables where only the first syllable is stressed (DUH-duh-duh). If a poem has only one foot per line, it is in monometers; if there are two feet per line, it is in dimeters; etc.

Stressed and unstressed syllables aren’t the only way to add rhythm to your poetry. Another technique often used by poets is repetition. Repetition underlines the repeated words, which can be a sentence or a single word. In her poem Still I Rise, Maya Angelou repeats the phrase “I rise” with increasing frequency as the poem progresses, changing it from “I’ll rise” in the opening stanzas to a repeated “I rise” toward the end . to emphasize her unbreakable spirit:

Leave nights of terror and fear behind

I get up

Into a daybreak that is wonderfully clear

I get up

Bring the gifts my ancestors gave

I am the slave’s dream and hope.

I get up

I get up

I get up.

rhyme

In poetry, rhythm and rhyme go hand in hand. Both create musicality in the poem and make it enjoyable to recite and listen to.

Rhymes can appear anywhere in a poem, not just at the end of alternate lines. Check out all the places Lewis Carrol uses rhymes in this excerpt from “Jabberwocky”:

One two! One two! And through and through

The Vorpal Blade became snicker-snack!

He left it dead and with its head

He galloped back.

format

When you read poetry, the first thing you probably notice is the formatting. Simply put, poetry just isn’t formatted like prose. Sentences end in odd places, there are blank lines between different paragraphs, a word can have its own line, or the words can be arranged in a form that creates an image on the page.

One of the defining characteristics of poetry is that it does not adhere to the same formatting as prose. You will (most likely) not find sentences and paragraphs in poetry. Instead, you’ll find stanzas, lines, and line breaks.

A stanza is the poetic equivalent of a paragraph. It is a group of lines that (usually) follow a specific rhyme or rhythmic pattern. For example, a quatrain is a four-line stanza in which the second and fourth lines rhyme. An isometric stanza is a stanza of any length where each line has the same meter.

Literary Devices

Literary devices are not limited to prose—many, perhaps most, poems contain one or more literary devices. Literary devices commonly found in poetry include:

figurative language

side by side

onomatopoeia

parable

metaphor

puns

chiasm

pictures

hyperbole

mood

motive

personification

Poets often use literary devices in conjunction with other poetic elements. A famous example of a poem that overlays multiple literary devices is Margaret Atwood’s “[you fit into me]”:

you suit me

like a catch in the eye

a fishing hook

an open eye

In the first stanza, Atwood uses a simile, a sort of imagery, to create an initially pleasing image: a hook-and-loop fastener, a small metal hook that neatly inserts into a suitably sized metal loop for fastening clothing. Then the second stanza contrasts this with a harrowing image: a fishhook dipped in an eyeball. These images together, formatted as two strong sections separated by a break, express the poem’s uncomfortable, instinctive theme.

Kinds of poetic forms

There are many different types of poems. Some have very strict stylistic rules, while others are classified according to the topics covered rather than their structure. When you write poetry, brainstorm the form you are writing. For forms that rhyme or require a certain number of syllables, you’ll probably want to write down a list of matching words in your chosen format before you start writing.

haikus

A haiku is a three-line poem that always fits this format: the first and third lines contain five syllables, and the second line contains seven syllables.

limerick

A limerick is a five-line poem that follows a strict AABBA rhyme scheme. Although they often talk about humorous topics, it’s not a requirement – the only requirement is that it fits that rhyme pattern exactly.

So nice

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem often used by Shakespeare and Petrarch. Although the exact rhyme scheme of a sonnet varies from poem to poem, each sonnet has some sort of consistent rhyme pattern.

blank verse

Blank verse poetry is written in a specific meter, which usually does not rhyme. Although this particular bar is often an iambic pentameter, this is not a requirement for blank verse poetry – the only requirements being that it stays in its meter (whichever bar the poet chose) and that it does not rhyme.

Free verse

Anything goes with free verse. If you’re reading a poem that doesn’t seem to fit into any particular format, read free verse poetry.

ode

An ode is a poem that celebrates a person, event, or even an object. An ode uses vivid language to describe its subject.

elegy

Elegies are poems that, like odes, pay tribute to specific themes. However, rather than being purely solemn, an elegy is generally a reflection on the death of its subject and includes themes of grief and loss.

How to write a poem

Writing a poem is not the same as writing a short story, essay, email, or any other type of writing. While each of these other types of writing requires a unique approach, they all have one thing in common: they are prose.

Poetry is not prose as we explained above. And that’s why it feels like the wild card of creative writing.

With poetry, going through the standard writing process can feel like a creativity killer. That doesn’t mean that you should just sit down, write down a poem and call it a day. On the contrary, when writing poetry, you may find that skipping one or more stages of the traditional writing process helps you be more creative.

Of course, you may also find that following the writing process helps you explore and organize your thoughts before you start writing. The usefulness of starting with a brainstorm, then moving on to the outline, and only starting to write once you have an outline varies from poet to poet and even poem to poem. Sometimes inspiration strikes and the words just start pouring out of your head and onto the page.

Here are a few tips to help you get started and write your next poem:

1 Decide what you want to write about

Unless you have been commissioned to write a poem on a specific subject, the first step in writing a poem is to determine a subject to write about. Look for inspiration in those around you, perhaps in nature, your community, current events, or the people in your life. Take notes about how different things make you feel and what they make you think about.

Free writing can be a helpful exercise when you’re looking for the perfect subject to write a poem about. You can use a writing prompt as a starting point for your freewriting, or simply jot down a word (or a few) and see where your mind takes your pen, stream of consciousness style.

Once you have a subject and theme in mind, the next step is to determine what type of poem is the best way to express it.

2 Determine the best format for your topic

Your poem doesn’t have to follow a specific format, but choosing a format and sticking to it might be the way to go. By choosing to write in a specific format, such as a sonnet or a limerick, you limit your writing and force yourself to find a way to creatively express your subject while still meeting the limitations of that format.

3 Explore words, rhymes, and rhythms

Once you’ve decided to write your poem in a specific format, read other poems in that format to give yourself a template to follow. A certain rhythm or rhyme scheme can emphasize themes and clever puns in your poem. For example, you might find that a limerick is the most effective way to get your readers laughing at your satirical poem because the format feels like it has a built-in punch line.

4 Write the poem

Now it’s time to write! Whether you’re using pen and paper, typing on a laptop, or typing on your phone, give yourself some uninterrupted time to focus on writing the poem.

Don’t expect to write something perfect on the first try. Instead, focus on getting your words out. Even if your lines don’t rhyme perfectly, or you have too many or too few syllables to fit your chosen format, write whatever comes to mind. The subject your words express is more important than the specific words themselves, and you can always revise your poem later.

5 Edit what you wrote

Once you have a draft, the next step is to edit your poem. You don’t have to jump straight from writing to editing—in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Give yourself a break. Then come back in a day or two with a critical look at your poem. By that we mean read it again, looking for places where you can replace a word with a stronger one, tighten your rhythm, add life to your imagery, or even remove words or stanzas that add nothing to the poem. As you do this, you may find that the poem would work better in a different form, or that your poem would be stronger if it rhymed. . . or if not.

Reading your poem aloud will help you edit it more effectively because as you listen, you’ll hear the rhythm of the poem and quickly notice any places where the rhythm doesn’t quite work. This can help you move words around or even completely restructure the poem.

If you enjoy sharing your poem with others, have someone else read it and give feedback on how to improve it. You might even want to join a writing group, online or offline, where you can edit your poetry with other writers in a workshop. Often other people can see strengths and weaknesses in your work that you may not have noticed because your perspective is too close to the poem. A more distanced perspective, and perspectives from readers and writers from different backgrounds, can offer opportunities to make your writing stronger that you didn’t previously consider.

Give your writing an extra boost

When you write poetry, you’re allowed to break the rules. In fact, you are encouraged to break the rules. Breaking the rules artistically is one of the main differences between writing poetry and writing prose.

But making mistakes is not the same as breaking the rules. Mistakes in your poetry, such as misspelled words and incorrect punctuation, can distract readers from what you are conveying through your words. This is where Grammarly comes in. Grammarly catches any mistakes or inconsistencies in tone in your work and suggests ways you can strengthen your writing. The result: Write with confidence and get better at intentionally breaking the rules.

If you’re a fan of steganography – the art of hiding messages in text – you might enjoy writing an acrostic. From the Abecedarian to the golden shovel, acrostic poetry hijacks the poem’s use of line breaks. You can use this shape to embed hidden meanings, draw inspiration, or just have fun with the structure of poems.

Famous acrostic poems throughout history have used the form to write love letters, encourage political rebellion, and play with the form. In this article, we discuss how to write an acrostic yourself, with 5 different forms of acrostic that can inspire or challenge your writing.

We will also introduce some different examples of acrostic poems. But first, what is an acrostic?

What is an acrostic?

If you are familiar with the basics of poetry form, you know that a poem is organized into lines and stanzas, not sentences and paragraphs. Like any work of English literature, a poem is read left to right, top to bottom.

The same goes for acrostic poems. But the poem is not only read from left to right, it also contains a hidden message in the form of vertically aligned letters or words. In other words, an acrostic is a poem that uses the vertical nature of poetry to spell out a hidden word or phrase.

What is an acrostic? It is a poem that uses the vertical nature of poetry to spell out a hidden word or phrase.

This is better demonstrated in some acrostic poem examples. Take the play “An Acrostic” by Edgar Allan Poe – retrieved here from Poets.org.

An acrostic Elisabeth, one says in vain

“Love not” – you say it so sweetly:

In vain these words from you or L.E.L.

Zantippe’s talents had caught on so well:

Ah! When this language comes from your heart

Breathe it out less gently – and cover your eyes.

Endymion, remember when Luna tried

His love to heal – was healed by everyone else –

His folly – pride – and passion – for he died.

Note that the first letter of each line also represents the first word of the poem: ELIZABETH. Dedicated to Poe’s cousin, Elizabeth Rebecca Herring, this poem uses Greek mythology to discuss themes of love, beauty, and death.

If the poem itself is difficult to understand, don’t worry – its references are fairly obscure. L.E.L. refers to the poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon, who often wrote about love or its absence. Zantippe, more commonly spelled Xanthippe, was the wife of Socrates and reportedly had a sharp temper (although she was also a devoted housewife).

Endymion, on the other hand, was a man the moon (Luna) fell in love with. Luna asked Zeus to grant Endymion eternal life, to which Zeus agreed, although he also put Endymion into eternal sleep, essentially preserving his beauty but robbing him of his life.

Here the acrostic poem form is used to dedicate the poem to another person. However, there are many more creative uses of the acrostic form which we will uncover in the following acrostic poem examples.

Examples of acrostic poetry: 6 forms of acrostic poetry

As with any form of poetry, poets have tinkered with the acrostic for centuries. Here are six types of acrostics to inspire and challenge you.

1. The traditional acrostic

The traditional acrostic uses the first letter or word of each line to spell a related word or phrase. Edgar Allan Poe gave us one of many examples of acrostic poetry that follow this form; Below is another example from Lewis Carroll’s A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky.

A boat under a sunny sky A boat under a sunny sky

Stay dreamily

On an evening in July – children three snuggling near,

eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased to hear a simple story – Lang has faded those sunny skies:

Echoes fade and memories die:

Autumn frosts hit July. She still haunts me, ghostly,

Alice moves under sky

Never seen with keen eyes. children yet to hear the story

eager eye and willing ear,

Lovely should nestle up. In a wonderland they lie

Dreaming as the days go by

Dreaming while the summers die: Always drifting down the stream –

Lingering in the golden glow –

Life, what is it but a dream?

The first letter of each line spells the name “ALICE PLEASANCE LIDDELL,” the subject of the poem. Alice also serves as the inspiration for Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, a work whose themes and ideas, albeit immature, can be seen in this poem.

In addition to the acrostic form, Carroll also rhymes each trio, making this poem both metrically challenging and enjoyable to read. Of course, acrostic poems can embed more than just names in their lines—they can embed messages of all kinds! – but the acrostic name poem is a common theme.

2. The double acrostic

Similarly, the double acrostic embeds a message at both the beginning and end of each line. The first letter of each line makes a word, as does the last letter of each line.

Examples of double acrostic poems are hard to find, and good examples are even harder. Perhaps the most famous example is the poem “Stroud” by Paul Hansford, dedicated to the town of the same name in England.

Nestled among hills in the midst of five valleys,

This peaceful little market town that we inhabit

Refuses (loudly!) to be a compliant.

Once the home of the cloth that gave it its name,

Its streets lead you uphill and downhill again.

Despite its flaws, it leaves us all enchanted.

Despite the fun challenge of writing a double acrostic, this form is relatively rare in published poetry. As such, there is plenty of room for experimentation and you should challenge yourself with the shape!

An experimental idea would be a double-helix poem where the first letters can be read top-down and the last letters bottom-up, reflecting the direction of the DNA.

3. The Abecedarian Poem

The Abecedarian poem is a type of acrostic in which the first letter of each line runs in alphabetical order. Of course, most Abecedarian poems are 26 lines long. Despite the challenge of following alphabetical order, a good Abecedarian will still rely on using concrete nouns and verbs at the beginning of each line, and avoid the easy route of articles, adverbs, and prepositions whenever possible.

Abecedarian definition: a type of acrostic in which the first letter of each line proceeds in alphabetical order.

Here is one of many great Abecedarian poem examples entitled “Abecedarian with sexual tension” by Emily Corwin.

waves to you? in the wilderness over there where I crackle, my lungs bloom silver in the

Darkness, riverbed extinguished. shall we meet at are you running to a place that lures you? in the wilderness yonder where I crackle, my lungs blossomed silver in the dark, the river bed went dead. shall we meet in the evening? under coxcomb and swollen,

filled with asking for each other, asking if good can be taught, if that’s right. and

How do you heal yourself, my love? I remember what you are – scab, totem,

Juniper on the side of this house. are you making me nice would you like to reach between my doors—

bright as a milk snake? I break every promise I once made to myself in the dark, dark

now, and my blackberries are burned. I put fire on the table, softened the rosewood and

pink. I long to be among your still plants, your neck bare, your wrist and

Rhubarb, the twisting tendrils of red thorns, smoked within you – a heat that tugs, tugs at everyone

Towards, towards being raptured, unmade by your fingertips, my ribs loosened,

Eddy – scraped off, used like a whetstone. It’s scary to live like this, under the

X-ray machines, all visible in my young chest – a threshold. enter me between a

Zillion bright rooms, all silent at once.

The challenge, of course, is to write convincing lines using those Scrabble letters like J, X, Q, and Z. Some examples of Abecedarian poems are “A Poem for S”. by Jessica Greenbaum, Hummingbird Abecedarian by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and A Boy Can Wear a Dress by John Bosworth.

4. The mesostich

Also known as a mesostic poem, the mesostich is a type of acrostic where a word or phrase is formed in the middle of the poem.

Like other forms of acrostic, the mesostich can be read as usual, and the hidden message is often italicized or capitalized in the middle of the text. Some poets, such as Andrew Culver, argue that a true mesotic is achieved only when the mesotic letters are not repeated twice on the same line.

The poet John Cage popularized the mesostitch form. Here is an example of the mesostitch from John Cage’s long-form poem Overpopulation and Art. Cage’s poem repeats the phrase “OVERPOPULATION AND ART” as a mesostitch 20 times – once for each letter of the phrase “OVERPOPULATION AND ART”.

For more fun with the form, check out this mesostic poem generator from the University of Pennsylvania.

5. The Telestich

Like the mesostich, the telestich is a relatively rare form of acrostic. Telestiches form words or sentences using the last letters of each line.

We have already seen an example of the telestich in the double acrostic poem, since the last line of that poem read “STROUD”. However, telestichs are relatively rare in English-language and contemporary poetry.

However, the telestich was a common tactic used by Ovid, an ancient Roman poet. In The Metamorphoses, Ovid uses telestitch lines, often related to the content of the text itself. First, let’s look at a telestich he used in the original Latin:

From Metamorphoses, Book 1, lines 406-411:

not exacta satis rudibusque simillima signis.

Quae tamen ex illis aliquo pars umida suco

et terrena fuit, versa est in corporis usum;

quod solidum est flexique nequit, mutation in ossa;

quae modo vena fuit, sub eodem nomine mansit;

inque brevi spatio superorum numine saxa

The poem’s telestich spells the word “SOMATA,” an ancient Greek word meaning “body.” This is relevant to the text itself, which you can see for yourself in this translation:

as a marble statue carved in the rough.

The soft, moist parts have been converted into softer flesh,

the hard and brittle substance to bone,

The veins kept their old name.

The use of the telestich reinforces the physical nature of the text and demonstrates the kind of textural (and multilingual) wordplay that Ovid embedded in his work.

For a full translation of the text, as well as the Latin original, see Metamorphoses here.

6. The Golden Shovel

The Golden Shovel is a form of poetry invented by Terrance Hayes. To write a golden shovel, the last word of each line should be read vertically so that it transcribes the text of another poem (making this form a modified version of telestich).

Terrance Hayes’ poem “The Golden Shovel” is the first example of this form, adapting the text of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool”. You can see Brooks’ poem repeated in the last words of each line in Hayes’ play.

We’ve covered “We Real Cool” before, both in our short form poetry article and in our repetition apparatus article. So here is another example from The Golden Shovel. Michael Kleber-Diggs’ poem “America is Loving Me to Death” is a golden shovel of allegiance—and it has an initial acrostic, too!

Read the poem here at the Academy of American Poets.

How to write an acrostic: 5 tips

In the examples of acrostic poems above, poets used a variety of the following tips.

How to write an acrostic: renew forms

Of course, spend some time practicing the acrostic. Write a golden scoop, a mesostich, or some great Abecedarian poetry examples. But feel free to experiment: the white sheet is fertile ground.

For example, we could not find an acrostic that contains a message in the initial, middle, and final letters. Nor have we seen any acrostics reading their message backwards, from bottom to top. Or what if the acrostic was paired with another challenging form? Imagine a counterpoint that is also an Abecedarian.

Whatever you write, give in to experimentation. That’s what the acrostic stands for!

How to Write an Acrostic: Experiment with “Low Words”

What types of hidden messages can you embed? In our acrostic poem examples, poets have embedded the letters of names, themes, ideas, and even political messages. What else could you use those “base words” for?

Experiment with these words, for you might stumble upon something new and unexplored in acrostic poetry. Perhaps the acrostic contradicts the poem’s message; Perhaps embed references to famous quotes, slogans, or other artwork and literature. The acrostic is a space for you to build references and metatextuality, so lean on that and don’t necessarily settle for the first idea that comes to mind.

How to write an acrostic: build a relationship between form and language

Whatever hidden message you develop, it should be related to the text of the poem itself. This may not be the case if you are writing a traditional Abecedarian poem, but even then it is best if the form of the poem has something to do with the message of the poem.

Have fun with it, because the relationship between form and language is the crux of acrostic poetry. One idea would be to write an acrostic that is self-referential. For example, what if a mesostic poem were split by the word “sword”? Or what if the initials of a poem and the telestich both spelled the word “BOOKENDS”?

How to write an acrostic: Use natural language

The trick to writing a good acrostic is to keep the language natural and concise. Too often a bad acrostic is plagued by poor word choice.

When writing acrostics, avoid the urge to use a thesaurus. For real. If you search for synonyms of words that start or end with certain letters, you will convince yourself to use words that sound unnatural or have a different purpose. Try to use the language organically and check the dictionary just to confirm. You will find that the poem flows on its own without the use of fancy language or closely related synonyms.

How to write an acrostic: Let the poem stand on its own

Finally, an acrostic should have a clear message without the hidden down words. In other words, the acrostic should not be necessary to understand the poem – rather it is like an “easter egg” of the poem. It should refine or complicate the poem’s message – it may even provide the poem’s title – but it should not be the sole reason for the poem’s existence.

Regardless of the acrostic, let the poem be a poem. Structure exists to inform, enhance, and challenge the meaning of the poem (there is no language without structure), but not to define the poem itself.

More examples of famous acrostic poems

Looking for more acrostic poem examples to inspire your writing? Here is a short list of famous acrostic poems.

Learn how to write an acrostic at Writers.com

Whether you are writing a simple acrostic name poem or a complex abecedarian, the courses at Writers.com will help you master the acrostic poem. Take a look at our upcoming poetry courses where you can find courses to help poets at every stage of their writing.

Writing a poem isn’t about stitching a few words together into charming sentences. It’s so much deeper than that. Writing poetry is a bridge that allows people to express their feelings and makes others live every single word they read. Poetry should educate people, lead them away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and compassion. Poetry writing aims to help this community understand life better and live it more passionately. PoemHunter.com contains an enormous number of famous poems from around the world, by both classical and modern poets. You can read as many as you like and also submit your own poems to share your writings with all our poets, members and visitors.

Fiction Book Reflection: These books are so much fun to write and offer students a change from the traditional summaries or reading reflection activities. Example: If you are studying characters, have students write the name of a character from their book and fill in each acrostic line of poetry with character traits, feelings, and actions—all supported by examples from the text. It’s an engaging way for students to show what they know! This also works well with the settings. Have students write the name of an important setting from a book and write the acrostic with a focus on how the setting influenced the story.

How are acrostics different from acronyms?

Students are familiar with using acronyms to remember facts or words in a specific order. An acronym is a mnemonic strategy that creates an abbreviation using the first letter of each word in the list, for example ROY G BIV, a name and abbreviation for the colors of the rainbow. Another mnemonic strategy that uses the first letter to remember words is the acrostic strategy. However, the acrostic strategy differs from acronyms in that instead of an abbreviation, the initial letters are used to form a sentence or poem. So, in order to remember the order of the mathematical operations, the student can recall the acrostic phrase “Excuse me dear Aunt Sally”, i.e. parentheses, exponents, multiply and divide before adding and subtracting.

Long-term memorization and recall of facts and words is made easier by learning with the acrostic method. Here’s how:

Meaningful Information: The acrostic sentence makes the disjointed list of words or facts more meaningful and easier to remember. Isn’t it easier to remember the order of taxonomic classification of organisms by using the acrostic “King Philip can only find his green slippers” instead of kingdom, tribe, class, order, family, genus, species?

Chunking of information: Rather than remembering each individual word, students primarily need to remember the chunks or sentence, which in turn serves as a cue for retrieving the information. Also, the words in the sentence serve as a guide to the number of words the student needs to remember.

Teach acrostic strategy:

As you teach your students the strategy, it’s important that you instruct them to create the verse using common, familiar words. For example, “My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas” to remember the order of the planets. Also, encourage them to actively create fun or interactive phrases as these are easier to remember.

To teach the strategy, first select the words you want to create an acrostic for. Write the first letter of each word on the board and have the students suggest a common word next to it. Thus, the activity encourages active student participation and learning that goes hand in hand.

You can then have the same activity done in pairs or groups and help students choose words to use in their verses. To help students master acrostic learning, provide opportunities to practice and create their own verses to remember the information.

Activities for the class:

Acrostic: Encourage the budding writer in each student by asking them to write an acrostic within a given time limit. The poems reflect the nature of the students and can range from witty to serious. When finished, encourage students to read their poems and have students vote for the best poet.

Acrostic Features: Students are given a specific word and instructed to create an acrostic for each letter by focusing on its features, e.g. FOSSIL.

Acrostic Names: Create an acrostic for your name, ie. H. MIKE will be powerful, intelligent, friendly and energetic. You can extend this activity to create an acrostic to remember the students in a group, the teachers’ names, the school mascot, and so on.

Discuss here: What acrostics have you used or created when teaching students?

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