You may not know what an acrostic poem is, but chances are, you know what it looks like. Does this look familiar?

Acrostic poems, comprised of lines that begin with each letter of the subject word, are often created from the letters of a child’s name, words that are associated with holidays, or other popular words that can be easily conceptualized by the acrostic form.

However, you may be surprised to learn that acrostic poems are among the oldest of the poetic forms; the earliest acrostic poems were written in ancient times, and the word acrostic was first applied to the prophecies of the Sibyl, which were written on leaves that were arranged in such a way that the first letter on each leaf formed a word. Even well-known poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Boccaccio, who wrote during the Middle Ages, composed acrostic poems.

While serious poets rarely use acrostics in modern poetry, other celebrated poets throughout the years have employed acrostics in their poetry.

William Blake used acrostics in his poetry. An example is this stanza from the poem “London,”

Blake, who writes about the sounds of the city of London, incorporates the word “hear” in an acrostic stanza, cleverly hidden in the poem.

Edgar Allan Poe also comprised acrostic poems, such as this one, which takes a form very similar to many modern acrostic poems, and is aptly title, “An Acrostic:”

Poe’s acrostic using the name Elizabeth is perhaps more passionate and literate than many modern acrostics, but this earlier example of an acrostic based upon the subjects name has inspired countless other acrostic poets.

Interested in creating an acrostic poem of your own, or want to help a child create an acrostic? Here are two websites that can give you a head start:

ReadWriteThink has an excellent interactive website that not only explains acrostic poems, but helps you generate these fun poems.

Enchanted Learning’s website has printable pages that make creating an acrostic poem suitable for framing easy, while also offering an assortment of acrostic poem starters with subjects such as family and holidays.