How to Write Acrostic Poetry

When we think of poetry, what basically comes to the mind is some very heart touching and emotional verses expressing powerful emotions. Indeed, poetry is usually expected to express pain, loss, hurt, separation , love and other deep feelings. Acrostic poetry, however, is a very light and easy form of poetry, unlike most other 'serious' poetic styles. It is not as if acrostic poetry cannot be used to express deeper sentiments. However, you can write about almost anything in this poetic style. So if you are planning to learn how to write poetry, you should probably consider learning how to write acrostic poetry, to begin with. Acrostic poetry is without any doubt one of the simplest and easiest, if not the simplest and easiest form of poetry which exists ... perhaps after slam. In fact, Acrostic poetry can be viewed as the mother of modern day slam.

It is hard to believe but the earliest pieces of Acrostic poetry date back to the biblical times and were apparently written by the prophet Jeremiah and the King of the Israelites, David. The first ever printed versions of Acrostic poetry can therefore be traced back to the Old Testament. However, the poetic form of contemporary versions of Acrostic poetry is so simplistic and easy to master that even young children and adolescents have adopted this style. In effect, once you have understood the basic elements that create an Acrostic poem - and which are in fact but a few - then the writing process barely becomes a challenge, even if you have never written poetry before.

In fact, Acrostic poetry is hardly bound by any strict rule. The one and only rule, which is in fact more of a characteristic than a rule per se, is that Acrostic poetry is written vertically, s illustrated by the following example:

MARY

Mary is my good friend

Alert and active at all times

Runs like a real athlete who plays

Yoyo as a past time

Indeed the most interesting aspect of writing this type of poetry is that the subject of the poem is clearly defined by one single word, be it a feeling, an idea, a concept or the personal name of an individual or a place. This single word is written vertically to serve as basis for the development of the whole piece of prose. It seems that this is precisely the one aspect which attracts many people, young and old, people to this poetic style. Once you have the basic structure of the poem thanks to the word written vertically, filling in the other words becomes much easier, especially since there is no need to even abide by any specific rhyming scheme or rhythmic pattern. Besides, neither the words nor the subject matter has to be too serious or deep, which is yet another reason why Acrostic poetry appeals to both amateur and professional poets. One does not require very refined language and writing skills in order to write Acrostic poetry, and a touch of humor is always welcomed. Online examples of Acrostic poetry can be accessed at http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1274369

and

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/acrostic.html