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Verse in which the initial letters of each line read downwards to form a word; if the final letters also from a word it is a double acrostic; if the middle letters also it is a triple acrostic. The term was first applied to the obscure prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl written on loose leaves, which made a word when sorted into order.
The above definintion accurately describes traditional acrostics, of which the most common forms are when the poet hides their name in the verse, and seasonal verse, when the poet uses one of the seasons as the hidden word, and writes a poem about that season.
Season of life,
purest of all,
releasing new hope
into our lives,
nature's wake-up call,
guarding Gaia's scope.
Copyright © Paul M Stafford 2003
Seasonal acrostics take us rather nicely into definition acrostics, because they are definition acrostics themselves. a definition acrostic is simply an acrostic verse where the verse defines/describes the word that is being used.
Such
Pure
Recreational
Inspired
New
Growth
Copyright © Paul M Stafford 2003
Lastly, we come to title and full verse acrostics. Title acrostics are again very simple to write and explain. A title acrostic is an acrostic verse that is written as a normal poem, but uses its title to structure the verse or verses.
Summer Time Blues
Summer's undying memory
melting emotional reason,
tempting inspirational melancholy,
enticing bedazzled lovers
under elevated sun.
Copyright © Paul M Stafford 2003
As you can see the first letter of each word is taken from the title of the poem. Title and full verse acrostics are similar but not the same. The difference being that title acrostics take their structure from the title of the poem whereas full verse acrostics take their structure from a quote, phrase, name or other such source. The poetic display and form is however the same with both.
