An abecedarius (also called abecedary or abecedarian) is a special kind of acrostic poem. In this type of poem, the first letter of each word, line, or section follows the order of the alphabet, starting with A and ending with Z.

Etymology

The word "Abecedarius" (or "abecedarium") is a Medieval Latin term that means "ABC primer." It was created by adding the ending "-arius" (-a, -um) to the names of the first four letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest use of its related English word, "abecedary," was recorded in the mid-15th century. The adjective form "abecedarian," which means "arranged in alphabetical order," was first used in 1665. The word "alphabetic," which comes from Ancient Greek, has been used in the same way as "abecedarian" since at least the 17th century.

Origins

The abecedarius is likely the oldest type of acrostic. Its origins are connected to two ideas: the sacred or magical meaning of letters, or its use as a teaching tool to help children learn. This second type, often in the form of rhythmic songs or patterns, is still widely used today to teach children the alphabet or other ideas.

Use in literature

The oldest known alphabet poems, called abecedarii, come from Semitic languages. In the Hebrew Bible, all confirmed acrostic poems—where each line starts with a letter of the alphabet in order—are alphabetic. These appear in four of the five chapters in the Book of Lamentations, in the praise of the good wife in Proverbs 31:10-31, and in Psalms 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145.

One well-known example is Psalm 119, which is often divided into 22 sections named after the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has 8 verses, and each verse begins with the same letter. This makes the entire psalm 176 verses long. Another example is Psalm 145, which is recited three times daily in Jewish religious services.

Some acrostic psalms are not perfectly structured. For example, Psalms 9 and 10 seem to form one acrostic, but they do not use all 22 letters, skip some letters, and reverse the order of two letters. In Psalm 25, one letter is missing, and another is repeated. In Psalm 34, the final verse (verse 23) matches the content of verse 22 but makes the line too long. In Psalms 37 and 111, the numbering of verses and lines cause confusion. Psalm 37 has only one verse for two letters and skips another letter. Psalms 111 and 112 have 22 lines but only 10 verses. Psalm 145 skips the letter "nun" and has 21 verses, but one ancient manuscript includes the missing line, matching a version called the Septuagint.

In 393, St. Augustine wrote an alphabet poem against the Donatists, which is the earliest known example of medieval rhythmic verse. Another example is the Old Polish poem Skarga umierającego ("Lament of Dying Man"). These poems help historians understand how languages developed their writing systems. For example, Constantine of Preslav’s abecedarius from the 9th century records an early Slavic alphabet.

In languages that used runic alphabets, poems listing the runes and describing their meanings were created. The first verse of an Old Icelandic rune poem for the rune Fé reads: "Fé er frænda róg ok flæðar viti ok grafseiðs gata" ("Wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen and fire of the sea and path of the serpent"). A similar form, called the Bríatharogam, was used in Ireland with the ogham script.

A famous example of an alphabet poem in English is Geoffrey Chaucer’s ABC. A modern example is Alaric Watts’ The Siege of Belgrade, which follows the alphabet in 29 lines, with each line beginning with a letter and using only words that start with that letter.

Some authors use the term "abecedarius" for poems that follow Watts’ structure, while others call them "alphabet-in-acrostic" poems. For example, the lines: "An abecedarius always alliterates Blindly blunders, but blooms: Comes crawling craftily, cantering crazily, Daring, doubtless, dark dooms" show this style.

Edward Hirsch, an American poet and critic, said that the abecedarian form has been used in modern poetry to create creative and unusual effects. He mentioned works like Harryette Mullen’s Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002), Carolyn Forché’s poem On Earth (2003), Barbara Hamby’s The Alphabet of Desire (2006), and Karl Elder’s Gilgamesh at the Bellagio (2007). Forché’s poem, for example, uses strict alphabetical order to guide both its stanzas and individual words.

Mary Jo Bang’s collection The Bride of E, Jessica Greenbaum’s A Poem for S., Thomas M. Disch’s Abecedary, and Matthea Harvey’s The Future of Terror/The Terror of Future also use the abecedarian structure.

Many famous alphabet poems are written for children, such as Dr. Seuss’s ABC or Edward Gorey’s alphabet books, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Even modern writers have created alphabet poems for children or in a style similar to children’s books. Gertrude Stein’s To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays and Djuna Barnes’ Creatures in an Alphabet are examples of alphabet poems that use animals and other themes in an alphabetical sequence.

Related concepts

Iroha mojigusari is a Japanese poetic form, a specific type of abecedarius. In this form, the first line begins with the first letter of the alphabet and ends with the second letter, the second line begins with the third letter and ends with the fourth letter, and this pattern continues until all letters of the alphabet are used in order. The standard Iroha, however, is a pangram, meaning it includes every letter of the alphabet at least once.

The alphabet poem was invented by Paul West, a British-born American novelist, poet, and essayist. It is a stricter modern version of the abecedarius. This poem has 13 lines, with each line containing two words. Each word starts with a letter that follows the initial letter of the previous word. West introduced this form in his book Alphabet Poetry, which includes a series of 26 poems. The first poem begins with "AB" and ends with "YZ," the second starts with "BC" and ends with "ZA," and the final poem begins with "ZA" and ends with "XY." Because of the strict rules, West uses few creative liberties, as seen in this example:

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