Date: 8th May 2018
An acrostic is a poetic form in which the first letter of each line spells out a word or message. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval or even as a code. Acrostics were common in medieval literature, where they usually served to highlight the name of the poet or his commissioner or patron. They were frequently used to spell out the name of a saint or to encode a prayer.