Pantoum: The Art of Word Weaving

Good afternoon, my form-friendly poetry fellows! I hope you're all well-rested and overstuffed from the holidays. Now it's time to shake off that food coma and get some form in your life!

The form we'll be discussing today is called a Pantoum. It's a very beautiful form that weaves lines together to create a cohesive poem. Themes of Pantoums usually turn around on themselves as they go on, since they constantly drag themselves backwards and forwards. You'll see what I mean after you read a few examples.

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Let's start with the basics: what is a pantoum?

Well, it originated in Malaysia in the 15th century, and was adopted occasionally by the French. The Malaysian version was a short folk poem, with emphasis on rhyme and brevity. Which is sort of the opposite of the Modern Pantoum, which is kind of "meh" on rhyme and just told brevity to go to hell. It is sort of a random background for a poetic form, but hey, something went right because Pantoums are pretty cool. 

I'm going to attempt to type out how the repeating lines are woven together, and it's going to be confusing. Then I'm going to show you how they repeat, and it will make sense. So bear with me a little bit and don't let your brain explode just yet.

 Ready? Here we go.

A pantoum is made up of a series of quatrains---that's stanzas with four lines each). (That was the easy part.) The second and fourth lines of each stanza are the first and third lines of the next stanza. The last line of the pantoum is typically the same as the first time.

OK, here's an example. If you want to know which lines repeat in the first three stanzas, take a look at the color coordinated lines. The yellow arrow points to the second line of the first stanza, it appears again to point out the first line of the second stanza where that line is repeated. The gray arrow points to the fourth line of the first stanza, and it also points to the third line of the second stanza where that line is repeated. And so on and so forth.

You'll notice that this pantoum rhymes, which isn't all too surprising considering it originated as a heavily rhymed form. Personally, I like the rhyming. I think it helps with the rhythm when you read it out loud. However, it isn't absolutely necessary to rhyme in a pantoum, so you can do whatever you'd like in that respect.

Let's recap on the Pantoum form before we get into any more examples.

Make sense? Feel free to leave a comment if that's confusing. Because it sort of is. It takes a little bit of practice to read and write these poems, although almost immediately you can pick up on the cadence and rhythm of them. We'll have a look-see at some more pantoums so you can get the feel of the themes and variations that come with this lovely form in a sec. 

But, first, here's a quote from Poets.org's Pantoum page that is a lovely sum of the pantoum. 

An incantation is created by a pantoum’s interlocking pattern of rhyme and repetition; as lines reverberate between stanzas, they fill the poem with echoes.

This is one of my favorite forms because the sound and the sense are inextricably woven together. Of course, that's the way form should work in general, but it's virtually impossible to separate the sound and the sense in a really good pantoum. Speaking of really good pantoums....let's go take a look at some!

As you can see, the modern pantoum likes to play with sound and punctuation. The words are the same, but each time a line might be used with different punctuation. Think of a pantoum as someone turning a gem over and over in their hands: the light catches different facets and angles until the entirety of it is exposed. 

The brevity of this pantoum is in the spirit of the original Malay form. The poem is deftly woven together by varying use of punctuation. I think this poem is a great example of how a pantoum can double back on itself. 

Here are some more pantoums for some extra credit reading:

1. Pantoum by Randall Mann

2. Incident by Natasha Trethewey

3. Stillbirth by Laure-Anne Bosselaar

4. Pantoum of The Great Depression by Donald Justice

5. Parent's Pantoum by Carolyn Kizer

I like these pantoums because they all have very modern and very intense themes. I think that pantoums lend themselves particularly well to gray areas, the past, grief, and story-telling. Of course, use any theme you'd like. The world is your oyster, and great poetic innovation occurs when someone steps outside the norm and makes it work. So do your thang! 

As a bonus, here's a pantoum I wrote that managed to win a poetry competition. Part of the prize was that it was published online, which is pretty cool. Let me preface the link with: it's cool, but it's not a big deal. I'm only sharing it with you for fun. It's called Afterwit, and it was published in The Seldom Review. If you are looking for a contest to submit to and you're a college student, check out the SCCC Creative Writing Festival contest. Also take a look around their publication, it's filled with a lot of fine work by some very fine young(ish) poets---and I'm not just saying that because I'm one of them! I swear. :)

Here's your prompt to go with this pantoum: 

1. Freewrite. 

2. Find your best lines and underline them. 

3. Type out your best lines--they don't have to go together yet. Tweak them until they're perfect. You want really solid, versatile lines that you can discover new meanings in. Don't be too vague though! 

4. Start weaving your pantoum. Choose a first line that is going to tie your poem together at the end, too. 

5. Just have fun! Pantoums take a little bit of time and a lot of patience, especially if you're writing an especially long one. Short ones can be hard, too, since a lot more pressure is put on your lines to deliver your message. Just keep going until it feels right, and don't be afraid to experiment and play with your lines and punctuation. 

6. Post your pantoums in our comments section below this post! If you really dig what you wrote, feel free to send us an email with your poem, and you could end up on our Featured section! Cool, right? Just click the little mail icon in the top right hand corner of the screen or check out our "Contact" page for more info.

That concludes our journey through the magical world of pantoums. Now, off you go to write your own! Check back next month for a post about another form!