Pantoum: Syntax and Social Constraint

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The pantoum poetic form originated in Malaysia as a quatrain with two couplet halves called a Pembayang (opening couplet) and a Maksud (closing couplet). The second and fourth lines in the stanza will then go on to repeat as the first and third lines in the following stanza. This repetition as well as the interaction between the beginning and ending couplets forms imagery, while clarity and significance is brought to light in the following couplet. Contemporary Anglo-Saxon pantoum or “pantun” is typically more flexible and less strict than Malay form, but often lacks the crucial dynamic between the Pembayang and Maksud within the stanzas (Gotera 256). Pantoum is a form that heavily utilizes repetition and cycling of lines, helping to symbolize the persistent and generational nature of sexism and social injustice seen Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s “Pantoum for Chinese Women”.

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s “Pantoum for Chinese Women” uses the pantoum form to bring attention to the disturbing phenomena of female infanticide in China. The poem’s repetition of lines, strong imagery, and concise words creates a somber and tragic narrative which examines the role of women in society; from infant, to mother, and grandmother. In the first stanza the opening couplet introduces, “They say a child with two mouths is no good. / In the slippery wet, a hollow space,” (Lim 261). The purpose of the Pembayang is to conjure imagery as well as a thought or concept to ponder which will further develop as the poem continues. The first couplet uses few words yet evokes tactile imagery. Instead of a warm maternal feeling, the mother is left with a “hollow space” physically but also emotionally as she feels dread knowing that the infant must be killed. The reader is also left to examine the thought of a child with “two mouths”; a disparaging way to refer to a “needy” baby girl. The second couplet states, “Smooth, gumming, echoing wide for food. / No wonder my man is not here at this place.” (Lim 261). The stanza’s closing Maksud gives context and meaning to the imagery introduced in the first couplet. The completed stanza tells the story of an innocent infant crying, and how she is viewed as just another mouth to feed due to her gender. The father of the infant is not there to celebrate his child, showing that the birth of a female baby is not something to be happy about and that she will offer nothing to the family except being a useless burden. Throughout the rest of the poem the stanzas interact similarly, introducing imagery with concise language then following up with a grounding statement for the reader to ponder. For example, stanza seven’s second and fourth lines respectively state, “She will not pluck the rooster nor serve its blood / Women are made of sand and wood.” (Lim 261). Roosters are signs of good luck in Chinese culture, and drinking its blood signals good health and a strong baby boy, but because a baby girl was born, there is no need for this practice. In this way, the rooster is spared, and the baby girl will lose her life instead. This furthers the idea that women are barely seen as human during this time. “Women are made of sand and wood,” can also show how women are viewed as objects which can be shaped and consumed as society pleases.

The Malaysian pantoum form is rigid in its structure reflecting the restrictions Chinese women face in society, and repetition of the same lines throughout the whole poem symbolizes lack of change and persistence of these social pressures.

Shirley, Geok-Lin Lim. “Pantoum for Chinese Women”. An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Anne Finch and Katherine Varnes, U of Michigan P, 2002. p.p 261.