Pantoums

Hi. Remember quatrains?

No, we are not doing quatrains again just in case you forget it. I am going to tell you something like that, though. It is pantoums. No, not phantoms, pantoums. Pantoums are poetry that are made by 8 different lines which are lengthened into 16 lines.

For Pantoums, here's the structure. We start with a line with a rhyme scheme of a. Then write a second line with the rhyme scheme of b. Then make the third and fourth line with the rhyme schemes a and b. So the rhyme scheme of the first four lines are abab. Then, we skip a line and start the next four sets of rhymes. The rhyme scheme is bcbc, but c can't be equal to a or b. Of course, a can't be equal to b, either. However, the 5th and 7th lines are the same lines as lines 2 and 4. The same thing happens to the next set of four lines with the rhyme scheme cdcd. Again, d is not equal to a, b, or c. The 9th and 11th line is equal to the 6th and 8th line. At the last set of four lines, the lines 13, 14, 15, and 16 is equal to lines 10, 3, 12, and 1.

Here's something that might make it easier to understand.

line 1, rhyme scheme a
line 2, rhyme scheme b
line 3, rhyme scheme a
line 4, rhyme scheme b

line 2, rhyme scheme b
line 5, rhyme scheme c
line 4, rhyme scheme b
line 6, rhyme scheme c

line 5, rhyme scheme c
line 7, rhyme scheme d
line 6, rhyme scheme c
line 8, rhyme scheme d

line 7, rhyme scheme d
line 3, rhyme scheme a
line 8, rhyme scheme d
line 1, rhyme scheme a

Still confused? I think this would be easier.

1.a
2.b
3.a
4.b

5(2).b
6.c
7(4).b
8.c

9(6).c
10.d
11(8).c
12.d

13(10).d
14(3).a
15(12).d
16(1).a

Now, this would make it the easiest: an example.

Every day is the normal day,
Nothing new never appears,
But the days are never in an ordinary way,
And abnormal ways never disappears.

Nothing new never appears,
Because every day is already new.
And abnormal ways never disappears.
I wish it's a lie, but it's very true.

Because every day is already new.
You never know what will come.
I wish it's a lie, but it's very true.
So I suggest you to just sit around and drink some rum.

You never know what will come.
But the days are never in an ordinary way,
So I suggest you to just sit around and drink some rum.
Every day is the normal day.


Get it yet? Well, this was pretty long and all, so later.

From James K to other poets