Week 5: Pantoum
Introducing our first look at a poem of Malaysian origins. The pantum originated in Malaysia in the fifteenth-century as a “short folk poem, typically made up of two rhyming couplets that were recited or sung.” The poetic form traveled as far as Europe, more specifically France in the 1800s. Here the word pantum became pantoum and became Anglo-American verse. The form of the poems is a quatrain with an abab rhyme scheme. Each line has between 8 and 12 syllables. The first two lines set the stage for the rest of the poem by giving an image and sound so that the reader has a better understanding after reading the rest of the pantoum. In a traditional pantoum, “the prefatory couplet, called the pembayang, typically depicts common imagery drawn from Malay life” (Gotera 255). The closing couplet, also called maskmud, confirms the meaning of the poem. As the pantoum migrated toward Europe became contemporary Anglo-American verse, adaptions were added to the form and became, “common folk to express love, lyricism, and other verities” (Gotera 255). The pantoums had quatrains; the second and fourth lines of any stanza return as the first and third lines in reverse order. In other words, it is repeated. The rhyme scheme is abab bcbc cdcd. Typically the end of the the poem reinstates the beginning.
The poem, Punk Pantoum on page 259 is a good example of a pantoum because it has abab bcbc cdcd ryhme scheme and the beginning of the poem is reinstated in the end. It is clear from the beginning that it is a dark story but also romantic because the narrator says, “I’ll always love you and your face”(Gotera 259). It seems to be about a true punk who is writing to his significant other and he is reminiscing their memories of what has come, but also what will come.
Sources
An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Eds. Anne Finch and Katherine Varnes. Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Press, 2002. pp. 254–261.
