How to Write a Pantoum

Post by Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley, co-founder

     A rare and interesting type of poetry is the pantoum. It is made up of a series of quatrains (four-line stanzas) with the second and fourth lines of each stanza being the first and third lines of the next. Sort of like poetry juggling. Because of the repetitive style, this style of poem is very good for themes of nostalgia, memories, and the like. Here's another one of my on-the-spot poems for an example:

I let out a sigh
I don't want to leave
My homeland behind
What can a child do?

I don't want to leave
Sadly, in the end
What can a child do
When the time has come?

Sadly, in the end
Nothing can be done
When the time has come
And I have left

Nothing can be done
I let out a sigh
For I have left
My homeland behind


     Obviously very rough, and my repeated lines aren't always exactly the same, but you get the idea. It has kind of a cool feel, huh? Obviously, though, you have to be careful with this one. Partly, this is because it is easy to make it boring. Partly it's because it's really easy to get yourself stuck when you're trying to get the second-to-last stanza to actually make a final stanza that makes some sort of sense.
     But doesn't this seem like the sort of poem that would be fun to make really long? And, once again, I've found another poem type that I'd like to do a contest with.


Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley is an aspiring author and poet. To learn more about her, see our About Us page. You can follow her on Twitter here: @ElisabethGTK.