An Acrostic is a poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a name, motto, or message when read in sequence. They need not rhyme. A double acrostic has the first and last letters forming new words. A comparative rarity, the triple acrostic appeared occasionally in puzzle books, almanacs and children's magazines until the mid-20th century at which time, it seems to have faded from view.

The word ACROSTIC comes to the English language via the Latin derivation of the Greek words, 'AKRON' (end) and 'STIKHOS' (line of verse).

Some examples of acrostic:

14 September 1789
Boston Gazette

GREAT Hero! whose illustrious actions claim
Eternal blessings and an endless fame--
Of every virtue and each gift possess
Religion reigns triumphant in his breast.
Grant him, almighty God! thy aid and health
Ever to rule these states and guard their wealth.

What power of Language can enough extoll
A Son of Liberty and friend to all--
Saviour and patron of Columbia!
Her sons revere thee and exult this day--
In thee, their Favourite and firm support--
Nations applaud thee and thy friendship court.
Generous deliverer of thy Country's right!
Thou hast prov'd victor over lawless might.
Of all the Conquerors in the historic page,
None have surpass'd this Phœnix of the age.

TWO ACROSTICS

by Lewis Carroll

ROUND the wondrous globe I wander wild,
Up and down-hill- Age succeeds to youth-
Toiling all in vain to find a child
Half so loving, half so dear as Ruth. -

MAIDENS, if a maid you meet
Always free from pout and pet,
Ready smile and temper sweet,
Greet my little Margaret.
And if loved by all she be
Rightly, not a pampered pet,
Easily you then may see
'Tis my little Margaret.

Missing You Father

Memories are all I have,
Is it enough to make me glad?
Something beckons deep inside,
Stirring remembrance, my only pride.
I feel you close, a second skin;
Nearer, you shall live from within.
God shines your light to sustain my hope,  

You’re always with me; in spirit, I cope.
Our love is unique; daddy’s little miss,
United, by blood, sweat and tears, I kiss.

Forever, you lie in your resting place,
Aching pain, our new-found embrace.
Throughout the wails, I pray for you,
His guidance I seek, to see me through.
Everlasting love is the warmth we share,
Rejoice in the knowledge, I feel you there.

© Lorraine M Kanter

Generosity, Hope, Serenity

Given in bountiful doses,  
Enlivens our character.
Negotiable in significance,
Endlessly gratifying.
Respected culturally,
Observed by few.
Speaks volumes of
Immeasurable compassion.
Teach through experience;
Yearn for generosity.

Hold onto our beliefs that
Optimism opposes the impossible,
Perseveres the intangible;
Eternally confident in hope.

Still waters calm
Erratic apparitions
Rejuvenating a worry-less
Environment.
Nurture  
It
To
Yield serenity.

Masterpiece

Manipulating
accurate words
slowly developing
treasured thoughts,
evenly phrasing them,
repeating, remolding till
pictures emerge provoking
images worthy of a memory
experienced somewhere, yet
caught in far reaches of mind’s
emotional storehouse . . . now bursting forth.

© Daniel J Ricketts 29 Nov 2002  

Dear Daniel

Staggeringly good !

Love
Alan

Ahh Daniel!

You KNOW this is one of my all time Daniel favorites!

I LOVE the shaped affect as well, not to mention the purpose!

HUGAROOOS!
Cleo  

Thank you, Alan and LorII.  I must admit, that one is one that I'm kind of proud of.  It's about as close to free verse as I've gotten too, actually.  How's that for ironic!?

Here's a timely double from a year ago:

Autumn

Amber auburn
undulating until
tired tree tosses
unwelcome umbrage
marking melancholy
November night

© Daniel J Ricketts 30 Oct 2002

SNOW

Sledding down slippery hills
Ninety-nine times, until one tires
Out. Then hot chocolate to warm
Weather-worn noses and icy fingers.

Dear Dove

T'aint what you snow, it's who you snow !

Perfection, content-wise, one nit, punc-wise :

Weather-worn noses and icy fingers. Gott a have that hyphen ! Other-wise it means almost the opposite !

Love
Alan

QUOTE (Alan @ Nov. 05 2003, 00:25)

Perfection, content-wise, one nit, punc-wise :

Weather-worn noses and icy fingers. Gott a have that hyphen ! Other-wise it means almost the opposite !

Alan---

*scrunches her nose up at the hyphen* I had no idea. never seen it done that way before.

Dear Dove

I know I'm right, but have no idea why. I think because the phrase weather worn become a descriptor of the nose.

It is not a "worn" nose, but worn-by-the-weather.

Lets have one of our heavyweight (in a knowledge sense only) grammaticians help us out here !

love
Alan

Please don't scrunch up your knows at this one, ewe too!  This heavy-weight (not in the knowledge scents) makes his con-tribution:

High-Fin Ate it

How to use that little dash
you’ll read a lot of words –
perhaps dashed off half-heartedly –
haphazard thoughts in sherds;
each half-thought-out response
ne’er spawned a renaissance.

© Daniel J Ricketts 07 Nov 2003
Lightly, Daniel  

Dear Daniel

So what has Arnie got to do with Hy-Finns ? Anyway, he's in Oz, also known as down under, so for your purposes he would have to be a Low-Finn.

Lovely verse as usual, but does it answer our Q about the "-" in this poem ?

Love
Alan

Hey, Alan!

Note that I only used one 'n' ~ and I don't even know who Arnie is!

I was referring to a shark!  ( Like the one that recently took a huge chuck out of a girl's board and devoured one of her arms! )

I was leaving the REAL answer to the hyphen question to the sharks in here. I only know what my Grammer taught me! (But I did use a couple hyphens in my poem, didn't I?)

Here's another lightly seasoned acrostic for you:

Save  Turkey

Sadly seeing
all avenues
violently
eliminated

Tom tremblingly
urged unilateral
rethinking,
kindling key
element:  “Eat
Yourselves!”

© Daniel J Ricketts 27 Nov 2002

Dear Daniel

Well, I mis-duped !

ArnFinn is one of this board's most esteemed members, from the Oz-team !

And, would you believe, I did not notice it is an acrostic. Novocaine 1, Me 0.

I noticed your teasing hyphens, purposely leaving the Q un-effing-answered !

Love
Alan

Thanks for the info, Alan!  My apologies to Arn!

Here's one I just stumbled across.  I think you may like it:

Compromise

Come,
offer
me choices;
perhaps we can
reason together...
or at least
mediate a solution
if there's
some chance,
eventually?

© Daniel J Ricketts 25 June 2003

Very nice!

   

Well, thank you... I think!  

(Since it's -- at least for my computer -- a new page, I had to to back and see what the previous page was, so I quote it here for you.  I hope it's the right one!  )
deLightedly, Daniel  

M  uch of my spare time is spent
O  n great poetry sites like this one here
S  ure it was a URL that a friend sent
A  nd let me make one point very clear
I  nside Mosaic Musings much pleasure is found
C onsidering the great poetry they have there

M  any of the poets that you'll find around
U  sually have some advice and comments to share
S  o spend some of your time reading and writing too
I   nside of this site, there is so much talent in this place
N  ever have a seen so much talent from all of you
G  etting to read poetry done with so much grace
S  uch a wonder escape from the stress of the human race......

Hi Jim,

Glad you're having fun here. You're most complimentary too! I initially missed your joke about "WRITE ON!" in your reply for me on The Word Is Go, but got it now. Thanks for the education. I'm learning new forms all the time. I'm sure Lori/Cleo would be tickled pink upon reading this...and I'll remind her.

Just one question: Is it customary to insert a space after initial letter of each line?

David :)

Thanks Carrie Ann, and David.  I write lots of things and other styles when the mood strikes me.  I space the first letter to make it easier for the reader to notice the word going down.  Don't know if it is customary or not,  but it's just the way I do it.

WRITE ON!! wasn't meant as a joke,  that is my trademark signoff on my replies.........  And the name of the magazette that I publish monthly.......

Hi Jim!  

What a great acrostic! Especially since it's about MM and all our talented writers!  

As for David's question: It seems to depend on where you post your acrostic - some sites like it to be not visible, in that your punctuation, caps etc would not be changed (so one would really have to look to notice). Some sites prefer a capital letter in each line (with no space following). I would agree that at MM, in Karnak Crossing, this educational forum, Caps are ok.

If one seeks to enter a contest or publish acrostics, then I would swing the other way and write it as a normal poem with no emphasis on it.

Thanks again Jim!

I will be moving this shortly into our Acrostic tile...

~Cleo  

Thanks for the comments Cleo............

No problem Jim! :)

Notorious

Some say winning isn’t everything, it’s the fame,
All that really matters is how you played the game.
To all the people who made me what I am today
I thank you with all my heart, what more to say?

                       risen
So many have
Few have
               fallen

Artists I have come to know, do grow...
Critiquing all the while, in friendly style
Taking the glow, tossing the crow…

If you learn as much as I do about
Ourselves, perhaps you too, can be
Notorious!

*BUMP*

Would anyone like to POST their Pandora tiles in here as well?

Please do.

~Cleo

Well, that was a satisfying piece, Lori!  I hadn't seen that one before!  But then I do miss a lot!

Not sure I want to place my collection for the present challenge here, but here's today's acrostic huitain:

Dyslexia

Did any of you try to read as we
you’d grasp the problem unmistakably
since you’d be so confused, you’d want to scream
like we do silently… though none may see —
especially because you can’t be me;
x-rays inside our heads are but a dream —
if only you could sense how dumb we feel…
and though we know we're not… the feeling’s real..

© Daniel J Ricketts 11 April 2005

Well done Daniel!

Here's mine for today:

A wise woman once asked,
Father, why do bad
Things happen to good people?
Eviserating their actions
Respectfully harm more than help...

The wise man aswered,
Hold onto your faith child !
O we that have lived and loved
Undoubtedly face these questions;
Give of yourself freely, and
Have FAITH that things will change.
This is my promise to you.
So it is written, so it shall be done.

© 2005 Lorraine M Kanter

DEPRESSION

Data-overload
Emotional pressure
Physical stresses
Reasonable contemplation
Energy-drop
Sleep-deprivation
Serotonin imbalance
Irrational expectations
Overwhelmed feeling
Negative outlook

Laughing Out Loud

Leisurely time
August summers end
uniformed trees begin to change
gaudily dressed in their fall colors.
Hopelessly lost in the rythme of time
I suspend my awe of nature
no where else except the Forth of July are colors
glady shone forth.

Of spring or fall it's hard to be
unaware of the majesty in both
though I think I prefer the fall.

Laughing while
out tromping though leaves
underlines the loss of summer
dreams of next year still wait.

sophrosyne

serve
others,
promoting
humble manner
reigning with dignity
over your self-portrait...
since all you have been given
you have received freely from God
neatly wrapped with invisible bows . . .
every good and perfect gift comes from Him

© MLee Dickens'son 03 March 2007