The last page of “Tommy Taylor and the Golden Trumpet” is an Afterword from Wilson Taylor. Later on in Issue #1, a bedraggled Tommy Taylor fan points out to a news reporter that this poem is an ac
The last page of “Tommy Taylor and the Golden Trumpet” is an Afterword from Wilson Taylor. Later on in Issue #1, a bedraggled Tommy Taylor fan points out to a news reporter that this poem is an acrostic.
Acrostic is a form of constrained writing that has been around for thousands of years. In an acrostic, the first letter/syllable/word of each line/paragraph/segment of a literary text spells out a word or message.
Acrostics are notable because they prove that the text was originally composed and designed for writing. In studying older texts, it’s a clear cut sign that a poem was designed visually for readers, rather than orally for storytellers.
One of the most famous acrostics was made in Greek to refer to Jesus. In Greek, the acrostic for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior” spells ICHTHYS (ΙΧΘΥΣ), which is Greek for fish. This is why Jesus is also associated with the symbol of the fish.
In “The Unwritten” this acrostic by Wilson Taylor has also been interpreted by Tommy Taylor fans as the heralding of a Messiah. This may be an allusion to the Biblical line Isaiah 35:4:
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. (KJV)