Structure of Pantun
16
Formal features of pantun
plain
2021-08-03T20:09:19+00:00
Pantun is a poetic form found throughout the Malay world, which includes the Minangkabau region, some other parts of Sumatra, parts of Java and Kalimantan, and parts of Malaysia.
There are a number of formal features to the poetic structure. The list below represents them according to Minangkabau understandings and applications of the form. - The lines are eight or nine syllables long.
- They are structured in two equal halves. In saluang, these are referred to as the batang (literally "branch") and isi (literally "content"). In Minang contexts, batang draws on references to the natural environment, specific places, and/or the context of performance. The isi contains the content, which is usually a moralistic or philosophical message. Sometimes, when people quote a pantun, the only include the isi.
- The two halves must having matching rhyme schemes
- The length may range. In saluang, there are examples from four to twenty-four lines total. The most "standard" is probably the 4-line version.
Let me illustrate with the first pantun I ever learned, which is four lines in total. I present it separate from the song itself, as it could technically be adopted to any tune that can accommodate a four-line pantun. - Janiah aia talago biru
- Nampak dari Koto Malintang
- Piliah mamak nan katuju
- Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.
Syllable Length
- Jan/iah ai/a ta/la/go bir/u
- Nam/pak dar/i Ko/to Mal/in/tang
- Pil/iah ma/mak nan ka/tu/ju
- Bung/o sa/ka/bun nan ka/kam/bang
The lines are: 9, 9, 8, and 9 respectively, depending on how you deal with elision of "iah."
Formal Structure
1st half: Batang
Janiah aia talago biru
Nampak dari Koto Malintang
2nd half: Isi
Piliah mamak nan katuju
Bungo sakabun nan kakambang
Rhyme Sceme
Batang
- Janiah aia talago biru
- Nampak dari Koto Malintang
Isi
- Piliah mamak nan katuju
- Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.
Scheme
The rhyme scheme is indicated above with the bold text, which is as follows.
a: "u"
b: "ang"
a: "u"
b: "ang"Translation and interpretation
1st half: Batang
Janiah aia talago biru
Nampak dari Koto Malintang
2nd half: Isi
Piliah mamak nan katuju
Bungo sakabun nan kakambang
Batang
Clear water in the blue pond
Visible from Koto Malintang.
This batang draws on a reference to the natural environment in a specific place. The "talago biru" (blue pond) is a reference to Lake Maninjau, which is visible from the nagari of Koto Malintang.
Isi
Choose wisely uncle from
The flowers in the garden.
This isi, like all isi, is not thematically connected to the first half. The isi delivers advice using a metaphorical reference, telling the mamak--the maternal uncle, who is historically a more important authority figure over his sister’s children than their own father in the Minangkabau matrilineal system—to choose wisely from the flowers in the garden when picking a bride for his nephew. Here the flower is a metaphor for a young woman. Another Example
To illustrate the principles, here is a second example which was delivered as part of the song "Pariaman Panjang" at a recording session in 2016 (see this rendition). I heard a variant of it delivered in the same song four days later at a performance in Sariak Laweh, suggesting that it is a pantun baku. This one is twelve lines in length, rather than 4. The rhyme scheme is more complex: abcdef/abcdef.
Batang
- Manih tabunyo rang Piaman
- Dikilang sadiang mandaki
- Urek di lingkah layang-layang
- Daunnyo banyak nan patah
- Patah dek ribuik pagi hari
- Sado nan patah lareh juo
Isi
- Manangih Gunuang Pasaman
- Tambah hanguih Gunuang Marapi
- Taisak Gunuang Singgalang
- Managun aia di lurah
- Cando baniaik kok dak jadi
- Ka tau utang awak di namo
Translation and Interpretation
Batang
The sugar cane of the Pariaman people is sweet
It’s squeezed while walking
The roots are sat on by swallows
The leaves have many that are broken
Broken by strong wind in the morning
All that are broken fall off.Isi
Mt. Pasaman is crying
Mt. Merapi is often smoldering
Mt. Singgalang sobs
The water in streams has stopped flowing
It is like the interest doesn’t come.
We already have a name.
Batang: The batang is relatively descriptive about a place and nature. It talks about the sweetness of sugar cane grown in Pariaman, a way of establishing connection to the place, Pariaman, but also about sugarcane, wind, and birds.
Isi: The mountains here, which are important landmarks in the Minangkabau region, are a metaphor for people: the father is crying, the mother is crying, the whole family and surrounding community is sobbing. But there is a second layer of metaphorical reference. It is a metaphor for an individual who is romantically interested in someone but the interested party does not reciprocate.
