pantoum

/pan toohm"/, n.

a Malay verse form consisting of an indefinite number of quatrains with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the following one.

Also, pantun.

[1880-85; < F, erroneous sp. for pantoun < Malay pantun]

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▪ poetic form

      a Malaysian poetic form in French and English. The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming abab in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme (as bcbc, cdcd). The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and in some English examples the third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming xaxa.

      Although the pantoum was introduced into Western literature in the 19th century, it bears some resemblance to older French fixed forms, such as the rondeau and the villanelle. French poets who wrote pantoums include Victor Hugo (Hugo, Victor), Théodore de Banville (Banville, Théodore de), and Leconte de Lisle (Leconte de Lisle, Charles-Marie-René), among others. Austin Dobson (Dobson, Austin) was one of the more proficient English practitioners of the form.

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