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acrostic poem

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A poem in which initial (or other fixed-position) letters of lines spell out a word or phrase

Detailed Definition
A poem where the first letter of each line, when read vertically, spells out a word, phrase, or message. This ancient form combines visual and verbal play, creating a secondary text within the primary text. Acrostics can be single words or complete messages, and variations include telestich acrostics where final letters spell words, and mesostich acrostics using middle letters. The form requires special skill as poets must satisfy both the horizontal poetic content and vertical spelled message simultaneously.
Example
Example in poetry:
“A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll spells “Alice Pleasance Liddell” vertically; In “An Acrostic” by Edgar Allan Poe, the name “Elizabeth” begins each line; Contemporary poet Terrance Hayes writes acrostics spelling “AMERICA” to critique national identity; Medieval acrostics often encoded saints’ names or divine invocations; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” isn’t acrostic, but modern poets like Natalie Diaz use the form for personal-political encoding.
Additional Notes
An acrostic poem spells a word or message vertically using the first letter of each line; ranges from simple puzzles to complex literary devices embedding hidden themes or dedications.
Also Known As
Alphabet acrostic Name-poem Hidden-initial poem Acrostic son Alphabetic acrostic
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