AcrosticPoetryforTeensHighSchoolandAdvMiddleSchoolPoetryLesson.pdf

The Price Of Peace

Tired soldiers going home

Hope is the road they roam

Each waiting for war to cease

Proud to believe in peace

Ready to return to family

Instead of facing the enemy

Courage becomes their reward

Endless warriors with a sword

One wish for each day to live

Fighting for protection to give

Pressed to use the power of will

Endlessly not wanting to kill

A time for a loved ones kiss

Candles in a window and a wish

Each day is the price of peace

– Chris Smith

Edgar Allan Poe

Evil comes, reaching and creeping

Darkness leaving you, shivering and weeping

Gray shadows fall, they bring doom

All around, trapping you in the room

Ready to claim you, as you scream

And you realize that this is no dream

Life almost deserts you, you’re left alone

Lonely thoughts are chilling you to the bone

Almost as the nightmare starts becoming true

Now you feel the horror striking out at you

Panic begins stabbing inside your head

Out there come those you believed long dead

Endless laughter comes from a solitary raven

– Author Unknown

A boat, beneath a sunny sky

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July –

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear –

Long has paled that sunny sky:

Echoes fade and memories die:

Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream –

Lingering in the golden gleam –

Life, what is it but a dream?

akes me feel better

nly thinks of others

akes me to get ice cream

elps me with my homework

very day is there for me

eady to give a hug

Love,

Junior

An acrostic is a type of poem you probably ﬁrst wrote in elementary school. The writer takes a word or phrase, writes it

vertically on the page, and then builds each line beginning with one letter of the word/phrase. This simple and sweet

technique has adorned innumerable Mother’s Day cards. However, more advanced uses of the technique can be

compelling for a reader, providing an opportunity for unique insight and a nice surprise when the reader notices the code.

Ideas for building an advanced acrostic poem:

• Build your poem with rhyming couplets (AABBCCDD...) or try an alternate (ABABCDCD...) rhyme scheme.

• Consider ending your poem with the ﬁrst word you used in the poem. This gives a strong note of ﬁnality to your work.

• Try a double acrostic, where the ﬁrst and last letter of each line are the same letter, so the root word/phrase

appears, like a code, on both sides of the poem.

• Want a real challenge? Try to make every line the exact same meter/number of syllables.

EXAMPLES

from Through the Looking-Glass

In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-

Glass, the writer includes this poem, which

is an acrostic of Alice Pleasance Liddell,

his real-life family friend and inspiration for

his Alice in Wonderland protagonist.

ASSIGNMENT

Going Vertical The Acrostic Poem

Now, it’s your turn!

Take your assigned topic and build

an acrostic poem that shows some

depth of thought about the subject.

1. Write the word/name/phrase at

the top of your poem as the title.

2. You must use either rhyming

couplets (AABBCCDD...) or an

alternate (ABABCDCD...) rhyme

scheme.

3. Your poem needs to be typed and

left-justiﬁed, so that the capital letters

of each line can be read vertically.

Due: