Reversible poem

A reversible poem, also called a palindrome poem or a reverso poem, is a poem that can be read both forwards and backwards, with a different meaning in each direction, like this:

Example
Initial order Reversed order
The world is doomed
I cannot believe that
We can save the world 		We can save the world
I cannot believe that
The world is doomed


Reversible poems, called hui-wen shih poems, were a Classical Chinese artform. The most famous poet using this style was the 4th-century poet Su Hui, who wrote an untitled poem now called "Star Gauge" (Chinese: 璇璣圖; pinyin: xuán jī tú).[1] This poem contains 841 characters in a square grid that can be read backwards, forwards, and diagonally, with new and sometimes contradictory meanings in each direction.[2] Reversible poems in Chinese may depend not only on the words themselves, but also on the tone to produce a sense of poetry.[3] Beginning in the 1920s, punctuation (which is uncommon in Chinese) was sometimes added to clarify Chinese palindromic poems.[3]

English-speaking poets such as Marilyn Singer and Brian Bilston have also published reversible poems.[4][5][6]

Reversible poems are sometimes taught to students as a way of showing differing perspectives within the same words.[7] In English, omitting punctuation and placing line breaks strategically are useful writing techniques for creating a reversible poem.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Metail, Michele (2017-03-28). Wild Geese Returning: Chinese Reversible Poems. New York Review of Books. ISBN 978-962-996-816-8.
  2. ^ Hinton, David (2010-02-02). Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. Macmillan (published 106). ISBN 978-0-374-53190-4.
  3. ^ a b Rea, Christopher (2015-09-08). The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China. Univ of California Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-520-28384-8.
  4. ^ Dawes, Erika Thulin; Cunningham, Katie Egan; Enriquez, Grace; Cappiello, Mary Ann (2023). Reading With Purpose: Selecting and Using Children's Literature for Inquiry and Engagement. Teachers College Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8077-8180-7.
  5. ^ a b Bland, Janice (2022-10-06). Compelling Stories for English Language Learners: Creativity, Interculturality and Critical Literacy. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-1-350-19000-9.
  6. ^ Mahalel, Adi (2023-04-01). The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-9234-6.
  7. ^ Gallagher, Kelly (2023-10-10). "Reverse Poems". Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-003-84304-7.


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