pantoum

[ pan-toom ]

noun

1. 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.

pantoum

/ pænˈtuːm /

noun

1. prosody a verse form consisting of a series of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each verse are repeated as the first and third lines of the next

Word History and Origins

Origin of pantoum¹

1880–85; < French, erroneous spelling for pantoun < Malay pantun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pantoum¹

C19: via French from Malay pantun

Example Sentences

It is closer to a collection of linked short stories; the first and last of them subtly connect, as if the book were an extended example of that verse form known as the pantoum.

From New York Times

I’m sure that no one onstage had ever seen this arrangement before, and Hersh struggled to maintain order in the multilayered “Pantoum” movement.

From Washington Post

The one-time primitive directness of English was overrun by such forms as the ballade, the chant royal, the rondel, the kyrielle, the rondeau and the rondeau redoubl�, the virelai and the pantoum, the sestina, the villanelle, and last, yet by no means least, the sonnet.

From Project Gutenberg

I created a pantoum — a series of quatrains with certain lines repeated in a pattern — using language culled from these bridge “pages.”

From New York Times

During the Pantoum, the Ravel was more sensation than sound: the deep cello rasp of hair against gut; shimmers of glissando from the piano; piercing intrusions by a worried violin.

From Seattle Times