Acrostic
Successive lines begin with successive letters
Each verse, line, or section begins with the next letter of the alphabet — aleph through tav. A pedagogical and meditative form: from A to Z.
Each of Lamentations' first four chapters is an acrostic: chapter 1 has 22 verses each beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph, bet, gimel … through tav); chapter 3 triples the structure (three verses per letter, 66 total). The pedagogical form is doing pastoral work: when grief feels uncontainable, the alphabet imposes shape on it. Then chapter 5 preserves the 22-verse structure but abandons the alphabetical sequence — as if the form could not finally hold the sorrow. Acrostic is invisible in translation; this is one of those cases where knowing what the form IS changes what you hear in the text.
- Ps 119 Eight verses per Hebrew letter — 22 sections × 8 = 176 verses, all on Torah.
- Ps 9–10 Originally one acrostic (split in Hebrew tradition).
- Ps 25, 34, 145 Single-letter-per-verse acrostics.
- Lam 1–4 Four chapters of acrostics — chapter 5 preserves the 22-verse structure but does not follow the alphabetical sequence, as if grief overflows form.
- Prov 31:10–31 The valiant woman — acrostic of her praise.