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Post by Belinda on Aug 15, 2004 20:35:07 GMT -5
Acrostic- a poem where the first letter of each line spells a word that can be read vertically example: Falling petals carpet the steps Leaving behind the days of sun Only to tickle the landscape with gold Winter will soon approach and frost our toes Ever wishing for the new life of spring Ready to guide us back to summer
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Post by Firestarter on Aug 18, 2004 12:49:42 GMT -5
I did one of those a few days ago! Fiery showers flare across the sky to awaken the mind I watch in wonder as space is broken out into flames Red, blue, green, and gold stars flutter into the night Explosions consume my skipping heartbeat While a gentle breeze tickles the faint tranquility Over a bleak and clouded gray horizon Risks of falling in love all over again in the moonlight Keeps the sweethearts coupled as they gaze, Starbursts breathe and fade to obscurity once more. 8/14/04
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Post by Belinda on Aug 19, 2004 21:10:52 GMT -5
Very Cool! That Flower one was my first attempt at this and I really enjoyed it! Yours is amazing ;D
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Post by shelley on Jan 11, 2006 20:35:36 GMT -5
Hi Trina.
Beautiful acrostic. Lovely imagery.
Shelley
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jh
Absolute Poet
Posts: 37
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Post by jh on Jan 12, 2006 12:04:09 GMT -5
I personally dislike the way people use acrostics in such a manner. Now, don't take me wrong - it's just that after reading really good-written acrostics in mediaeval Hebrew and Aramaic, there's no way to compare the one here to the classical ones. It's like sweet and dry wine; once you like dry you never return to sweet.
Like Poe's "An Acrostic":
Elizabeth it is in vain you say "Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way: In vain those words from thee or L.E.L. Zantippe's talents had enforced so well: Ah! if that language from thy heart arise, Breath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes. Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried To cure his love — was cured of all beside — His folly — pride — and passion — for he died.
I go for the more complex ones, such as a yet-untitled 4-minute-blurted Hannuka Piyut:
Halls of great lights and pretty sights; N’er cease the bright jargon I use.
Unwitty words, kept like the birds Keychained to Kurds (occipit-muse).
Ah, what a day! Holy, I say, Ne’er hate it; may none hate the Jews!
Oy, babbled stuff worthy of fluff! No, I can’t snooze, you know, w’thout booze.
It's an absolute crap poem, but the concept remains: If you divide each line into its two [can't remember the term in English], take the first letter of each of those according to the rhyme-scheme and add it all up it spells "Hanukkah Now" and "Jonny".
Acrostics are supposed to be a secondary tool, not the thing according to which you decide the poem and line-breaks. Use rhythm, and use the rhym-scheme to seperate the different acrostics (if applicable). The acrostics are a cute side-tool, nothing more.
Again, sorry for being bashy and all, but it's simply a very subtle and side-used tool - though a great one - in Hebrew and Aramaic poetry (the latter which I know much less about). It loses the meaning slightly, though, in English.
Also, acrostics range far more than a line-header spelling a word. It can be an alphabet; it doesn't even have to be letters, it can be words spelling out a Biblical phrase or a sentence, and it doesn't have to even be a line header. One of my Hebrew poems includes two Biblical phrases, an acrostic of the alphabet and my name in slightly hidden locations.
And that's how it's best used... IMO.
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Post by Belinda on Jan 13, 2006 1:11:17 GMT -5
Don't be sorry jh I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this That's what this board is about
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Post by davidf on Nov 12, 2012 19:01:33 GMT -5
Here's another that spells out a word: Something within us Makes us all human Inspires us to do great things Live life to the fullest Enjoying the things that surround us.
~Davidf
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Post by Belinda on Nov 13, 2012 7:28:57 GMT -5
SMILE =)
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