A Quick Guide to Acrostic Poetry

The acrostic poetry form is fun and easy to learn. For this reason it is very popular in elementary and middle school poetry programs. The key to the form is that the first letters of the first words of every line in the poem come together to spell out a word or phrase — generally the overall subject of the poem. For example:

Sushi

Squid, eel and tuna
Upon a bed of rice
Sit ready to be eaten
Happily by those who can stand
It.

There are very few other requirements to the form. Acrostic poems don’t normally rhyme, which can be a relief for teachers and can help prepare students for less lyrical forms such as blank verse and free verse. The form still requires students to think about language and word choice without having to rely on rhyme or meter. Because the form has a reputation as a beginner’s or children’s form, it is not commonly taught at the college level and is rarely used by published poets, but it is an excellent introduction to the world of poetry.
Acrostic poems across the web:

• Animal acrostic poems
• Color acrostics
• Repository of acrostic poems
• Our name poems
• Sample acrostic poems
• Third grade MLK acrostics
• Important things acrostics
• Children’s Bible acrostic
  

Here are some additional articles about writing and teaching acrostics:

• Definition and much more: acrostic
• Enchanted learning acrostic poems
• Emory acrostic poetry
• Poetry Teachers How to Write Acrostic Poems
• Poetry Workshop Acrostics
• Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things
  
• Teacher lessons for acrostics
• How to Write an Acrostic Poem

Related links

• 30 Poems in 30 Days: A Brief Glossary of Meter (1.000)
• 30 Poems in 30 Days: The Good the Bad and the Meter (1.000)
• 30 Poems in 30 Days: Syllabic Verse (1.000)
• 30 Poems in 30 Days: Imagism (1.000)
• 30 Poems in 30 Days Index (1.000)

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