Pantoum¶

pantoum · form · validated

Interlocking quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third of the next. The checker verifies the line interlocking only, not metre or rhyme.

Provenance¶

Source: Traditional; adapted into French from the Malay pantun in the 19th century
Attribution: traditional — classical or folk; no single origin to name
Checkability: self — decidable from the text and its parameters alone
Attested: codified — formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author

Details¶

Kind: restrictive
Languages: en, fr
Requires: tokens
Deterministic: yes
In other languages: Pantun (de), Pantoum (fr)

Prompt hint¶

Carry the second and fourth lines of each quatrain into the next as its first and third.

Examples¶

interlocked¶

en — this text satisfies the procedure.

a
b
c
d
b
e
d
f

Source: constructed example; the form is adapted from the Malay pantun

broken-interlock¶

en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

a
b
c
d
z
e
d
f

Source: constructed counterexample

pantoum-leconte-de-lisle¶

fr — this text satisfies the procedure.

Ô mornes yeux ! Lèvre pâlie !
J'ai dans l'âme un chagrin amer.
Le vent bombe la voile emplie,
L'écume argente au loin la mer.

J'ai dans l'âme un chagrin amer :
Voici sa belle tête morte !
L'écume argente au loin la mer,
Le praho rapide m'emporte.

Source: Leconte de Lisle, 'Pantoums malais' V, in Poèmes tragiques (Paris: Lemerre, 1884); opening quatrains via fr-academic / superprof, not collated against the 1884 edition