ACROSTIC POEMS

Back in March when  I was preparing the Rainbow Poetry Blog ( No 13),  I was much taken by the idea of writing a “ rainbow acrostic poem”.    In fact, I wrote two and they are both included further down in this blog.

But I thought I should firstly say a few words about acrostic poems; to explain what they are and referring to a couple of examples from past literature by way of illustration.

An acrostic poem, in its simplest form, is one in which the first letter spells out a word, message or the alphabet. Often an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval.

Acrostics are common in medieval literature, and the Bible also has some interesting ones mainly using the alphabet. They occur in much of the Book of Lamentations, in some proverbs (especially the Ode to a Capable Wife - Proverbs 31.1-31) and several Psalms. 

Notable among the acrostic Psalms is the long Psalm 119. This Psalm has 176 verses which are split into 22 subsections named after the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section consisting of 8 verses, each of which begins with the same letter of the alphabet. So, the first eight verses have the heading Aleph, the second Beth right through to the last Tav. Unfortunately, these acrostic verses do not transpose into the English language texts, only being able to be seen in the Hebrew text which, of course, reads from right to left. Although it is a simple acrostic it would have surely been challenging to write.

Can you imagine writing an English language acrostic alphabetical poem with 260 lines and 10 lines starting with each letter of the alphabet, and actually being comprehensible!!

Another interesting Acrostic poem is one written by Edgar Allan Poe 1829. Poe was a poet and author of early crime novels. He was also a cryptographer so probably was attracted to the idea of an acrostic.

He called it simply An Acrostic. It spells out the name ELIZABETH.

Elizabeth it is in vain you say

“Love not” — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:

In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.

Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well:

Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,

Breathe it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.

Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried

To cure his love — was cured of all beside —

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

The poem was never published during his lifetime. It was discovered by James H. Whitty, who included it in his 1911 edition of Poe’s poems, with the title “From an Album.”

The following comments may be helpful.

L. E. L.  presumably  refers to  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838), a popular English Romantic poetess who typically signed her poems with those initials. Poe wrote this poem in response to the poem, ‘Warning’ by L.E.L. (I will be covering the work of  Letitia Landon in a future Blog as one of our Romantic Poets.)

Zantippe is actually Xanthippe, the wife of the famous Greek philosopher Socrates. Poe deliberately misspelled the name for the sake of the acrostic. Xanthippe, was known for her quick and violent temper.  

Endymion was the famous lover of the goddess Selene in Greek mythology.  However, Poe used the name Luna, the Roman counterpart of Selena.

 And so finally to my attempts at an acrostic poem.

 In the first version, I have used the colours of the rainbow – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo Violet as the basis of the acrostic. In the second version, I have used the letters of the word Rainbow.

I was able to start  with the same opening line

Rainbows Acrostic 1 - Roger Verrall  March 12, 2021

Rainbows are a wonderful sight

Overtaking perceptions of light

Yielding all the spectral shades

Giving us natural arcades

Bringing us towards creation

Informing of the termination

Vindication of what is right

Rainbows Acrostic 2 -  Roger Verrall  April 5, 2020

Rainbows are a wonderful sight

Arching colours for our delight

Imagine we are to bend

Never getting to the end

Bowing down in true form

Overwhelming is the norm

Wishing for all to be just right

I hope you enjoy this Blog and would encourage  you to have a go at writing an acrostic poem!

Submitted by Roger Verrall -  April 8, 2021