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:
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] Reversible poems have also been written in Hebrew. [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]
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:
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] Reversible poems have also been written in Hebrew. [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]