pantoum
- noun
- /pænˈtuːm/
- Literature
:
pantun
- The pantoum (rhymes with "zoom") began as a verse form called "the pantun" which originated in 15th-century Malaysia.
Examples
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As Mark Strand and Eavan Boland put it in their how-to book, The Making of a Poem: "The reader takes four steps forward, then two back," making the pantoum "the perfect form for the evocation of a past time."
Academic text (2009) -
Ms. Mullen's collection includes several sonnets, at least one pantoum, and a couple of sestinas.
Fiction book (1992) -
In a number of ways, composing a pantoum takes poets through a similar process.
Academic text (2009) -
But if you're willing to play by the book, you might want to try turning your next quatrain into the start of your first pantoum.
Academic text (2009) -
This poem also demonstrates that there is something eerily haunting about the pantoum form.
Academic text (2009) -
A pantoum often captivates readers with its unique structure of repeated lines and rhyme.
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Writing a pantoum can be challenging, but it allows poets to explore themes in a captivating way.
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Many poets enjoy crafting a pantoum due to its distinctive form that emphasizes certain phrases.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pantoum comes from the Malay word pantun, which means 'a short poem'. In the 1800s French writers turned that idea into a form with repeating lines, so a pantoum is a poem where lines come back like echoes and the name helps you remember its repeating pattern.