Acrostic Poems

The basic acrostic poem uses the first letter of each sentence to form a word or phrase vertically.

Some acrostics have the vertical word at the end of the line or in the middle of the poem. The double acrostic poem has two vertical arrangements.Usually the first and last letter of each sentence. The triple acrostic poem has the first, middle, and last vertical word.

Ancient writers used to think that the acrostic had mystical powers bu later writers regarded the acrostic as a trivial game. However, the acrostic style of writing has been around for centuries. In ancient times it was used in Greek,Hebrew, and Latin literature. Some of the Biblical Psalms in Hebrew are acrostics. Other notable authors who wrote acrostic literature include Plautus, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Ben Jonson, and Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe's poem "A Valentine" used the letters of his beloved's name so that her name formed a diagonal from the top left to the bottom right of the page.

Bill  (A Basic Acrostic)

Before I met you,
I longed to have someone love me.
Love me in the gentle way you do.
Letting me find myself.

(notice the first line ends with the word love and love is spelled vertically)

Love

freely given Love
and feelings Of wonder
touches into Very core of my being
giving me an Endless freedom

(This was the most challenging acrostic that I've written so far as it is a diagonal one.)

Hope

Hope although sometimes giving the appearance of being
lAte seems to
apPear and
hapPens
alwaYs when you need it most.