Pantun & Its Type: A Brief Review

In this entry we will have a brief survey on what type of pantun exist in this world.

We could categorize pantun in many ways. One of it is by comparing its form. By form, we mean whether it’s a standalone pantun or linked, and then how many lines it is made up of.

Most of the time when we talk about pantun, we refer to a standalone pantun. What it actually is? A standalone pantun is a pantun that could, stand, alone. Not helping much?

It means, the pantun could be read by its own. Alone, it has complete meaning and message. Unlike Pantun berkait, another form of pantun. Pantun berkait is formed by linking few pantun stanzas in some way, and must be read together in its entirety to make sense or at least to deliver the complete message.

In this entry however, we won’t touch about pantun berkait at all. Perhaps in another time. We will be focusing on how to categorize this standalone pantun by differentiating them according to the number of lines they have.

The lines of a pantun is known as baris or kerat. Pantun 2 kerat means it is made up of 2 lines. Pantun 4 kerat means it is made up of 4 lines, so on and so forth.

The general rule, the most basic and fundamental of pantun construction is that of pairing i.e. the pairing of pembayang and maksud. So in constructing pantun, the rule is for every line of pembayang, you must pair it with a line of maksud.

The same goes the other way around; for every line of maksud, you must pair it with a line of pembayang. Therefore, every pantun constructed must be having even number of lines.

The pembayang lines must be put before the maksud. It has never gone the other way around. So if you want to set your pantun to have 2 lines of pembayang, then, automatically you must come up with 2 lines of maksud, each of which must be paired with each of the pembayang. And now, since you have 2 lines of pembayang, and 2 lines of maksud, the total number of lines will be 4, thus the pantun will be termed as pantun 4 kerat.

The ordering is thus

Pembayang 1, Pembayang 2; Maksud 1, Maksud 2.

Don’t put it like this

Pembayang 1, Maksud 1; Pembayang 2, Maksud 2.

Let all the pembayang go first, and then the maksud come. And be sure to order the pair correctly. 2 lines of pembayang and 2 lines of maksud mean you must have 2 pembayang-maksud pair. The first pair must come first in its respective part, don’t jumble up the pair.

Pembayang 1, Pembayang 2; Maksud 2, Maksud 1.

This is an incorrect ordering. If pembayang 1 come first in the pembayang part, then, its pair (maksud 1) must be first it the maksud part.

!!Note: The pairing of pembayang and maksud is done by having the same end rhyme.

Given all this foundation, it will strike you as weird if someone come up with pantun 3 kerat, for example. Pantun 3 kerat means the pantun must have 3 lines in a stanza. 3 is not an even number, so it will be impossible to have pairings of pembayang and maksud. It could be

Pembayang 1, Pembayang 2; Maksud 1.

Pembayang 1; Maksud 1, Maksud 2.

In both example, the pairing is not complete. So at this stage, pantun with odd number of lines is impossible constructively. Boleh buat, tapi pelik jadi aneh la.

Another example of incomplete pairing would be one like

Pembayang 1, Pembayang 2, Pembayang 3, Pembayang 4.

Maksud 1, Maksud 2, Maksud 3, Maksud 4.

The previous 2 examples won’t be qualified as pantun 4 kerat. It has 4 lines in a stanza, yes, but all of it is either pembayang or maksud. There’s no pairing of pembayang and maksud in a stanza, thus it fails to be one.

Example that we have posted previously is this pantun peel fresh. The whole 4 lines are making up a continuous maksud. It doesn’t have any pembayang. Thus it may look like a pantun, the reciter may recite it in the conventional pantun intonation, but hello Malaysia, it’s not technically a pantun in a strict sense.

So please, be careful when constructing pantun. Don’t take the pairing of pembayang and maksud for granted. And never try to substitute the pembayang with maksud just because you have a lot to tell about a theme, but couldn’t fit in a stanza. Use longer pantun, or use more stanza.

TYPES OF PANTUN

Now, let’s get to know each of the pantun type based on their number of lines per stanza.

To categorize pantun in a not-messed-up way, this is usually done by dividing it to three broad categories

Pantun 2 kerat (Pantun kilat/karmina/couplet)
Pantun 4 kerat (most common, quatrain)
Pantun with more than 4 lines

Since pantun must be constructed in pair, therefore we could easily say that the minimum number of lines for a pantun is 2. That is, the smallest pantun will be pantun 2 kerat. Also known as pantun kilat or karmina. In western world, it is known as couplet. It is made up of 1 line of pembayang followed by 1 line of maksud.

The most common form of pantun will be that of pantun 4 kerat, which is made up of 2 lines of pembayang followed by 2 lines of maksud, making a total of 4 lines per stanza. The stanza usually in this case also called as quatrain.

Pantun 2 kerat, though it may seems simple in construction, it’s not the most common one. It goes second after pantun 4 kerat.

Next on the list is pantun which is made up of more than 4 lines (6, 8, 10 12, and so on). Some give pantun that have more than 4 lines a different name; talibun. However, there’s also a more specific definition of talibun as a form of traditional Malay poetry different from pantun.

But, is there any maximum number of lines per stanza one should never go beyond in constructing pantun?

The easy answer is no. However, there are those in the opinion that it will be preferable not to go beyond certain number. Because the longer the pantun, the weaker its effect.

The three main opinions are

Pantun 8 kerat will be the highest one should reach.
One is free to make pantun up to 16 lines per stanza (pantun 16 kerat).
Pantun 18 and 20 kerat is also possible.

I personally favour the first stance, but at the same time am not dismissing the fact that it is possible to make pantun of longer lines up to 20. Or even more. But as we go higher and higher, the frequency of samples will be lower and lower. Pantun 20 kerat for example is very rare. And constructing one won’t be an easy feat. And then there’s this issue in reciting it; it will be harder to make it sounds like pantun.

Therefore, you are free to choose. Make pantun of any line you want as long the pairing of pembayang and maksud is not violated. Make pantun 100 kerat for all who cares (which is an interesting topic for another time), but always keep in mind that the longer the pantun, the weaker the effect.

Down here is the listing of all the pantun, together with its basic structure and rhyme scheme and also examples.