The Pantoum Form in Diaz and Trethewey's Poems
This paper examines the pantoum as a poetic structure through close readings of two poems: Natalie Diaz's "My Brother at 3 A.M." and Natasha Trethewey's "Incident." The pantoum, a form originating in 15th-century Malaysia and popularized in Europe and North America during the 19th and 20th centuries, relies on interlocking repetition to evoke memory, dread, and layered meaning. The paper argues that Diaz deploys the pantoum with haunting effectiveness, using repetition to build an overwhelming sense of danger and ambiguity, while Trethewey's use of the same form falls short, producing repetition that feels tiresome rather than evocative.
- Introduction to the Pantoum Form: Origins and defining features of the pantoum
- How Repetition and Sound Shape Meaning: How interlocking repetition slows and deepens poems
- Natalie Diaz's Use of the Pantoum in 'My Brother at 3 A.M.': Opening stanzas establish chaos, threat, and vulnerability
- The Pantoum's Role in Building Dread and Ambiguity: Repetition deepens imagery and creates haunting ambiguity
- Natasha Trethewey's 'Incident' and the Limits of the Form: Trethewey's repetition feels tiresome rather than evocative
- Conclusion: Form succeeds or fails based on the poet's craft
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper makes a clear comparative argument, using two poems that share a form to highlight how skill and intention determine whether a structural device succeeds or fails.
- Direct quotation from the poems is woven into the analysis, allowing the author to demonstrate claims about repetition and imagery rather than simply asserting them.
- The final stanza of Diaz's poem is used especially well, with the paper identifying genuine ambiguity created by the pantoum's structure — a specific, insightful observation rather than a generic one.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative close reading: it applies the same analytical framework (the pantoum's mechanics of repetition and layered meaning) to two different poems, then evaluates each against that shared standard. This method allows the author to make a judgment about relative effectiveness while grounding the evaluation in formal criteria rather than personal preference.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by defining the pantoum and its historical origins, then explains the formal properties — repetition, interlocking rhyme, slowed pacing — that give the form its expressive power. It then moves to Diaz's poem, analyzing specific stanzas in sequence to show how the form builds dread. The paper then pivots to Trethewey, using the same stanza-level approach to argue that her deployment of the form is comparatively weaker. A brief conclusion synthesizes the comparison.
Introduction to the Pantoum Form
The poetic form of the pantoum provides the structural foundation for two poems examined in this paper: "My Brother at 3 A.M." by Natalie Diaz and "Incident" by Natasha Trethewey. Each poet uses the pantoum distinctly and with varying levels of effectiveness in order to convey the underlying feeling of her poem. The pantoum is a literary structure that strongly evokes the past and memories of the past through its dreamy, enchanting repetitions. This form of poetic structure originated in France, derived from a form evoked from Malaysia in the 15th century; it first became popular within Europe and North America in the 19th and 20th centuries (Unst, 2013).
One of the more compelling aspects of this poetic and structural device is that "subtle shifts in meaning can occur as repeated phrases are revised with different punctuation and thereby given a new context" (poets.org). This allows a more transformative aspect of the literary piece to unfold: it permits the written word and its connected images to evolve, and by taking on multiple meanings, to transcend the literal.
Works Cited
Diaz, Natalie. My Brother at 3 A.M. 2014.
Poets.org. "Poetic Form: Pantoum." 2014.
Trethewey, Natasha. "Incident." 2014.
Unst, A. The Pantoum Verse Form. April 2014.
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