Anagrammatic poetry is

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

with the constrained form that either each line or each verse is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of all other lines or verses in the poem. A poet that specializes in anagrams is an anagrammarian. Writing anagrammatic poetry is a form of a

constrained writing Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern. Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. D ...

similar to writing

pangram A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. Origins The ...

s or long

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

List of anagrammatic poems

* Archive of Literary Anagrams: Hundreds of long anagrams of poetic and literary subjects by over 50 contributors, including the longest literary anagram ever created. *Eight Poems in the Manner of OuLiPo, by Kevin McFadden * Oh Damn! Must I Refrigerate?: Anagrammatic poem by Cory Calhoun of the title and first eight lines of Shakespeare's sonnet "The Marriage of True Minds." * Dianagrams,

Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...

* Rishi Talks to Katie: a dialogue between two high school students: a text's sentences are rearranged, then its words, then its letters * In the French poem ''Ulcérations'' by

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Holoc ...

, every line is an anagram of the title. * The book

Permutation City ''Permutation City'' is a 1994 science-fiction novel by Greg Egan that explores many concepts, including quantum ontology, through various philosophical aspects of artificial life and simulated reality. Sections of the story were adapted from E ...

opens with an anagramatic poem. * In the poem Washington Crossing the Delaware by

David Shulman David Shulman (November 12, 1912 – October 30, 2004) was an American lexicographer and cryptographer. He contributed many early usages to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and is listed amon"Readers and contributors from collections" for the se ...

(1936), all 14 lines are anagrams of the title. *In the online book, ISOTOPES2http://www.beardofbees.com/pubs/Isotopes2.pdf by Daniel Zimmerman, each line of the 14 line poems anagrams a 4 x 4 word square. *The Uncertainty of the Poet, by

Wendy Cope Wendy Cope (born 21 July 1945) is a contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with her husband, the poet Lachlan Mackinnon. Biography Cope was born in Erith in Kent (n ...

, is a gentle poem that repeatedly shuffles its words.

References

Genres of poetry Word play {{lit-genre-stub

List of anagrammatic poems

See also

References