An acrostic poem can be written about anything, but this form is a charming mechanism for paying homage to someone or something you love. Six simple guidelines will have you writing polished acrostics in no time.
Six Steps to Writing the Polished Acrostic Poem
1. First, decide on the subject of your poem. Perhaps your true love, a child—or yes, a devoted pet. Use either the first name, middle, last, or the whole kit and kapoodle kaboodle.
2. Write the name of the object of your affection in a vertical line.
3. Research the name to aid you in planning the kind of pattern you’d like the poem to follow or the images you’d like to include. The letters from the name can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of each line.
4. Think about the form of the poem. Would you like your poem to rhyme? Would you like to up the ante and try your hand at another form, combined with the acrostic? Say, a sonnet?
5. Once you’ve decided on the pattern of your acrostic poem, begin to work on a line or phrase for each letter of your chosen name. In each line, consider the qualities of the subject you’d most like to illustrate. You can embolden or use capital letters so the name will stand out.
6. Read through your lines and revise any that seem to throw off the balance of your poem.
At last, you have a polished tribute. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?
See Sample Poem: Elizabeth, by Edgar Allan Poe
Try It: Acrostic Poetry
Now that you know a little more about what acrostic poetry looks like, it’s time to practice. Did a special someone or something come to your mind as you were reading? You’ve found your subject! Now here’s an extra challenge: Try to write an acrostic poem where the letters of your subject’s name are found in the middle or at the end of your poem.
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Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. It was a fun kick-off to this month’s theme! Here’s an acrostic poem from Rick we enjoyed:
The Moments When We Choose to Play
Is what we see before us real?
Mirage we know is a need expressed,
And mirrors? We know that tale.
Go instead where the earth is dressed
In green, with broad and urgent calls
Not seen, but so conspicuously expressed
Every eye and every ear alert to all
Din and melody, but hidden every perch and nest.
Jaundiced eyes, come here, remove the pall.
Amend your days and nights and what is blessed;
Your imagination waits—let the worldly clatter fall.
—by Rick Maxson, of Imagined Jay
Photo by Jonathan Kos-Read. Creative Commons via Flickr.
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How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
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Rick Maxson says
Thank you, Heather, for highlighting my acrostic. It is a fun form.
Rick Maxson says
The wonderful thing about acrostics is how they lead you to discover what there is to write about the word(s) you choose initially. I read the following word recently, for the first time in a long time in Jane Hirshfield’s The Nine Gates:
Prestidigitation
Preparation determines the success.
Reality has no place here—every
Eye diverted elsewhere, a sufficient
Second for the unsuspected space,
The drop and slide to left, while the hand moves right.
In your mind, queen of hearts, the middle card,
Definitely followed with its juggling
In between the other two, ace and king.
Guess now! says Longsleeves, with a cat-like smile.
Is the queen of hearts in her proper place?
This is where we get it wrong, where our sight
Alone fails us, direction led away
Toward the rabbit hole, where the queen hides
In full regalia, playing croquet
On the lawn, shouting near the left wicket,
Never lose your head and fall for three card monte!
Donna Falcone says
Richard, you have a way with this form! 🙂 I love that queen at the end.
Rick Maxson says
Thanks, Donna. As I said, it is a fun form. As Heather points out, the greater challenge is mixing it with other forms like the sonnet, or perhaps 4 words in a series of quatrains.
Rick Maxson says
In writing this, I realized that this word may be the source of the iconic word used in old-time magic—PRESTO!
Heather Eure says
That’s a ten-dollar word, Rick! Nicely done. I like how you put, “Reality has no place here-”
Interesting connection with the word Presto! That’s clever of you.
Rick Maxson says
Ode to Floppy Ears
Beauty may be truth,
And truth, though intrinsically
Beautiful, can be difficult to see—
You must look long and hard at times.
But baby bunnies, worldwide, seem
Undeniably cute, and this is fact
Not dependent on anything,
Not subject to the political, nor religious view.
You just look at one and tell me otherwise.
http://handheldpyrometer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/super-cute-baby-bunnies-super-cute-baby-bunnies-bunny.jpg
Heather Eure says
You had me at BABY BUNNY. <3
Prasanta says
Fall is my favorite season, and October is especially beautiful and full of color. So, I chose to write an acrostic poem with the word “October”.
October Elegy
October enters surreptitiously
Calmly separates leaf from scion
Trees relinquish clasp— and foliage
Obeys the call— scatters asunder
Browned, crunchy, dispersed—
Elegy upon the grass
Rest in peace.
Monica Sharman says
Instead of using the person’s name, I thought I’d use the primary means of my conversations with this good friend. This time I’ll try it with the letters at the end.
Without it
our conversation would be
impossible. (Thank you, Mr. Bell.)
Heart sounds, signals, a voice
through strung cables. Don’t hang up.
I hear your speech,
your smile in audio
in transmission
through a wire.
Katie says
Wow, COOL!
SO like your poems Prasanta and Monica:)
this seems really fun – gonna try one now!
Katie says
Total energizer
Incorrigible pest
Grumpy as all get out
Going against the grain
Encourager extraordinaire
Ridiculously fun
*Tigger is a nickname I have for a loved one.
Katie says
Tabloid Material
Reprehensible
Ungracious
Manipulator
Pooh-Bah