Abecedarius

[1][2][3][4] "Abecedarius" (or "abecedarium") is a Medieval Latin word meaning "ABC primer", derived by adding the suffix "-arius" (-a, -um) to the names of the first four letters of the alphabet (a+b+c+d).

[2][3] According to the OED, the earliest use of its English cognate, "abecedary", dates back at least to the mid-15th century, preceding the first usage of "abecedarian" which, as an adjective meaning "arranged in alphabetical order", can be first attested in 1665.

[8] Its origins have been linked to either the sacred nature of letters and the mystical significance of these types of arrangements[8][2][3] or its didactic use as a mnemonic and instructive device for children.

[10] Such poems are important historical sources on the development of a language's orthography; Constantine of Preslav's abecedarius from the 9th century, for example, documents the early Slavic alphabet.

[12] One of the most famous and complex[13] modern examples of alliterative verse in the English language is Alaric Watts's abecedarius The Siege of Belgrade which loosely chronicles the historical event in 29 lines, each of the first 26 not only beginning with the consecutive letters of the alphabet, but also composed only of words beginning with the respective letter:[14] An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade.

In the words of the American poet and critic Edward Hirsch, "[t]he abecedarian has been revived in contemporary poetry with experimental force", because, "[p]aradoxically, the arbitrary structure triggers verbal extravagances".

[3] Hirsch names Harryette Mullen's Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002), Carolyn Forché's poem "On Earth" (2003), Barbara Hamby's The Alphabet of Desire (2006) and Karl Elder's Gilgamesh at the Bellagio (2007) as few modern examples structured in accordance with different variations of the basic abecedarian sequence, where the adherence to the form produces unusual and interesting aesthetic results.

[17] Some of the best-known and loved abecedarians have been written for children, such as Dr. Seuss's ABC or the roughly half-dozen alphabet books of Edward Gorey, the most notorious among them The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

[19] Due to the constraints, West allows himself few liberties here and there, as can be witnessed in this example:[19] Artichokes, Bubbly, Caviar, Dishes Epicures Favor, Gourmets Hail; Ices, Juicy Kickshaws, Luxurious Mousses, Nibblesome Octopus, Pheasant, Quiches, Sweets, Treats Utterly Vanquish Weightwatchers: Xenodochy's Yum-yum!