Rhyming, End-To-End-Palindromic Verse

Rhyming, end-to-end-palindromic (RETEP) verse is a relatively recent development in palindromic composition. As its name indicates, RETEP verse is to be distinguished from other varieties of rhyming palindromic verse in which whatever palindromicity exists is not of the end-to-end kind. RETEP verse is arguably the most sophisticated and ambitious form of palindromic writing ever attempted, and it is certainly one of the more challenging ones to try to compose. The first two published specimens of letter-unit RETEP verse of which I can find any record appeared in the February 1969 issue of Word Ways, which was the first issue to be edited by Howard Bergerson. In an introductory essay, Bergerson presented a number of original palindrome- and charade-based verses, one of which was a RETEP quatrain. In the same issue, an article featuring the palindromic poetry of J. A. Lindon included one RETEP poem, also of four lines. Thus it happens that Bergerson and Lindon, mutual wordplay muses who competed in testing the boundaries of the possible in palindromic composition, very fittingly share the distinction of being the first known publishers of letter-unit RETEP verse.