Pantoum

*I know I promised a post about my latest blog badge, but I had no internet connection at home so I'm posting this at school. I'll do my post about the badge this weekend. Promise!


I really have to stop with these complicated, convoluted poetry forms. Just trying to figure this one out gave me a headache, which speaks volumes about what writing one did to me! :-)

The pantoum is a Malay verse form that reached us via France. In this form, whole lines are repeated. In fact, every line is repeated.

The stanzas rhyme abab, with the second and fourth lines of each stanza reappearing as the first and third lines of the next. To complete the loop, the second and fourth lines of the final stanza are the same as the first and third lines of the first stanza.

Got that now? :-)

The design is actually quite simple:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and
fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of
the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first
line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza

Okay, now that you’re as confused as I am, here’s my example:

THE TEST

There’s magic in the air tonight;
The air is thick with expectation
On such a night my soul takes flight;
my heart fills with anticipation.

The air is thick with expectation;
The moon is riding high tonight.
My soul fills with anticipation,
I have one chance to get this right

The moon is riding high tonight,
A glow lights up the ring of stone.
I have on chance to get this right,
This must be done by me alone

A glow lights up the ring of stone.
The time is growing closer still;
This must be done by me alone
I have to prove I’m strong of will.

The time is growing closer still,
I hope I live to tell the tale.
I have to prove I’m strong of will;
The die is cast, I cannot fail.

I hope I live to tell the tale;
On such a night my soul takes flight,
The die is cast, I cannot fail.
There’s magic in the air tonight.