I’m trying to find information on the proper rhyme and meter structures for a “pantoon”, a poetic form.
Unfortunately, most search engines seem to assume I want information on pontoons, which means I get lots of links about boats and bridges and the like. And the pantoon is a relatively recently invented form, so most of the traditional sources on poetry don’t include it.
As such, if anyone has either the info or a link to the info, I would be most grateful.
P.S. I would have asked in Cafe Society, but I didn’t want the question buried under discussions about the season finales for Buffy, 24, etc.
Hint: Narrow your google search by (instead of searching on “Pantoon”) using the phrase “Pantoon Poetry”. From that, I found the following:
I believe you’re referring to pantoum. From my dictionary: A verse form consisting of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines are repeated as th e first and third lines of the following quatrain, and in which the final line of the poem repeats the opening line. [French, from the Malay pantun]
Here are a couple of pantoum sites:
http://kalliope.hypermart.net/pantoum.html
You guys is the bestest!
I first heard the term on the radio, where the commentator 1) spelled it out (as “pantoon”), and 2) insisted that it was a new form originating in New Zealand. But the form looks the same as I vaguely remember it being described.
Which only goes to show that even arts commentators are often full of crap.
I’m off to contemplate the possibilities inherent in the form…
Here’s another site that has information on all sorts of poetry forms:
Interesting stuff aplenty, and the link images are kinda Dadaist, in my book.