How to Write a Pantoum
The pantoum is a form of interlocking quatrains where the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next. This creates a hypnotic, spiraling effect.
Structure
Quatrains (4-line stanzas) of any number. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza reappear as lines 1 and 3 of the following stanza. The final stanza often loops back to the poem’s opening lines.
Origins
The pantoum originated as the pantun in Malay literature and was adapted into Western poetry by French poets in the 19th century, notably Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire.