References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantoum

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/pantoum-poetic-form

https://www.thoughtco.com/pantoum-2725577

We began with a sonnet form Bjorn, then a rubaiyat by Frank and here I continue Poetry Forms with the pantoum.

This prompt will remain open for four weeks to allow for editing and perfecting our entries.

Pantoum

The pantoum is a poetic form derived from the pantun, a Malay verse form: specifically from the pantun berkait, a series of interwoven quatrains and rhyming couplets.

Brief History

After Victor Hugo published a translation of a Malay pantun into French in the notes to “Les Orientales” in 1829, the form was adopted by French and British writers that include Charles Baudelaire and Austin Dobson. In Malaysia, my home country, the pantun is still very popular at weddings where the older relatives from both sides of the bridal party will exchange love “pantun” blessing the newlyweds a blissful first night together and a long happy marriage.

Basic structure

It is similar to a villanelle with repeating lines throughout the poem. It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first.

The pattern continues for any number of stanzas, except for the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern.

The first and third lines of the last stanza are the second and fourth of the penultimate; the first line of the poem is the last line of the final stanza, and the third line of the first stanza is the second of the final.

Ideally, the meaning of lines shifts when they are repeated although the words remain exactly the same: this can be done by shifting punctuation, punning, or simply recontextualizing.

A four-stanza pantoum is common (although more may be used), and in the final stanza, lines one and three from the first stanza can be repeated, or new lines can be written.

The basic pantoum form is as follows:

Stanza 1
A
B
C
D

Stanza 2
B
E
D
F

Stanza 3
E
G
F
H

Stanza 4
G
C
H
A

Verse forms

The modern pantoum form is written in interlocking quatrains (four-line stanzas), in which lines two and four of one stanza are used as lines one and three of the next. The lines can be of any length, and the poem can go on for an indefinite number of stanzas. Usually, the paired lines are also rhymed. The paired lines are lines #1 and #3; and lines #2 and #4.

The poem can be resolved at the end either by picking up lines one and three of the first stanza as lines two and four of the last, thus closing the circle of the poem, or simply by closing with a rhymed couplet.

Then there is the imperfect pantoum, described below; the final stanza differs from the basic form stated above, and the second and fourth lines may be different from any preceding lines.

Stanza 1
A
B
C
D

Stanza 2
B
E
D
F

Stanza 3
E
G
F
H

Stanza 4
G
I
H
J

Whichever form you chose, you may end with a rhymed couplet after the 3rd Stanza

The interweaving of repeated lines in a pantoum suits the poem particularly well to ruminations on the past, circling around a memory or a mystery to tease out implications and meanings. The change in context that arises from the addition of two new lines in each stanza changes the significance of each repeated line on its second appearance. This gentle back-and-forth motion gives the effect of a series of small waves lapping on a beach, each advancing a bit farther up the sand until the tide turns, and the pantoum wraps back around itself.

Rhyming schemes

Baudelaire’s famous poem “Harmonie du soir” is usually cited as an example of the form, but it is irregular. The stanzas rhyme abba rather than the expected abab, and the last line, which is supposed to be the same as the first, is original.

Meter

the rhyming lines have no meter

A Straightforward Example

The lyrics to the song “I Am Going to Like It Here,” from the musical “Flower Drum Song” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, is a familiar and most straightforward example. Notice how the second and fourth lines of the first stanza are repeated in the first and third lines of the second stanza, where the context is expanded. Then the form is continued throughout, for a pleasing effect of rhyme and rhythm.

“I’m going to like it here.
There is something about the place,
An encouraging atmosphere,
Like a smile on a friendly face.

There is something about the place,
So caressing and warm it is.
Like a smile on a friendly face,
Like a port in a storm it is.

So caressing and warm it is.
All the people are so sincere.
Like a port in a storm it is.
I am going to like here.

All the people are so sincere.
There’s especially one I like.
I am going to like here.
It’s the father’s first son I like.

There’s especially one I like.
There is something about his face.
It’s the father’s first son I like.
He’s the reason I love the place.

There is something about his face.
I would follow him anywhere.
If he goes to another place,
I am going to like it there.”

I offer you two other examples from A. E Stallings and Donald Justice

Another Lullaby for Insomniacs – BY A. E. STALLINGS

Sleep, she will not linger:

She turns her moon-cold shoulder.

With no ring on her finger,

You cannot hope to hold her.

She turns her moon-cold shoulder

And tosses off the cover.

You cannot hope to hold her:

She has another lover.

She tosses off the cover

And lays the darkness bare.

She has another lover.

Her heart is otherwhere.

She lays the darkness bare.

You slowly realize

Her heart is otherwhere.

There’s distance in her eyes.

You slowly realize

That she will never linger,

With distance in her eyes

And no ring on her finger.

Pantoum of the Great Depression – BY DONALD JUSTICE

Our lives avoided tragedy

Simply by going on and on,

Without end and with little apparent meaning.

Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.

 

Simply by going on and on

We managed. No need for the heroic.

Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.

I don’t remember all the particulars.

 

We managed. No need for the heroic.

There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.

I don’t remember all the particulars.

Across the fence, the neighbors were our chorus.

 

There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.

Thank god no one said anything in verse.

The neighbors were our only chorus,

And if we suffered we kept quiet about it.

 

At no time did anyone say anything in verse.

It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us,

And if we suffered we kept quiet about it.

No audience would ever know our story.

 

It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us.

We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.

What audience would ever know our story?

Beyond our windows shone the actual world.

 

We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.

And time went by, drawn by slow horses.

Somewhere beyond our windows shone the world.

The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.

 

And time went by, drawn by slow horses.

We did not ourselves know what the end was.

The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.

We had our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues.

 

But we did not ourselves know what the end was.

People like us simply go on.

We have our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues,

But it is by blind chance only that we escape tragedy.

 

And there is no plot in that; it is devoid of poetry.

 

This article on the pantoum will be updated based on your input and grow into an entry for our upcoming book.

Please write a pantoum of any length and link up below. Use the opportunity to read through the comments you receive, and edit if you would like to.

You are welcome to link up an old pantoum that you feel fits the prompt or you can take a favorite free verse poem and rewrite it as a pantoum.

If you like, it would be interesting if you added a short note about your thoughts when writing the pantoum. The comments will be a part of the book in the end.

Comment as usual and if you would like to receive constructive feedback on your poem please indicate that in your comments. If you ask for constructive feedback, be prepared to give back constructive feedback as well

If you would like to edit and improve your poem please update a new link in the Mr Linky below so it shows.