million men in China will be unable to marry due
to a shortage of women. Regardless of the social
and economic problems caused by infanticide,
the cultural desire for sons has resulted in a ver-
itable genocide of China’s daughters.
CRITICAL OVERVIEWShirley Geok-lin Lim is a prolific writer. In addi-
tion to her novels, her memoir, and her many
collections of poems and short stories, she has
edited several anthologies and has published
more than 130 articles or chapters in books. To
be in such demand suggests that Lim’s work is
much admired. Yet, in spite of her copious out-
put, her poetry has received ‘‘little critical atten-
tion,’’ as Andrew Ng notes in his 2007 article
inWomen: A Cultural Review. Ng notes that
‘‘Lim’s poems provide profound insights into
Malaysia,’’ where she was born. Her poems
also address ‘‘the problematic social spaces of
women.’’ One poem that has received more crit-
ical attention and that addresses the social space
of women is ‘‘Pantoun for Chinese Women.’’ Ng
refers to this poem as ‘‘one of Lim’s most power-
ful poems.’’ One element to the poem that Ng
suggests is particularly impressive is Lim’s use of
the pantoun format. The repetition of lines in the
pantoun works to reenact the trauma that vic-
tims of abuse feel when they constantly relive a
traumatic event. Thus, the use of the pantoun,
according to Ng, creates a poem that is ‘‘stylis-
tically sensitive to a traumatic experience that
cannot be expressed directly.’’ Since for the
mother, ‘‘mere words fail to convey her suffer-
ing,’’ the choice to construct this poem as a pan-
toun allows the poet to create a work ‘‘stylistically
sensitive’’ to that suffering. Overall, then, the rep-
etition of lines and the subtle changes that Lim
makes in punctuation help to create a more pro-
found image of feminine grief.
Ina1986reviewofNo Man’s Grove,thecol-
lection in which ‘‘Pantoun for Chinese Women’’
appears, Bernard Gadd is especially enthusiastic
about Lim’s poetry. In his review, which was
printed inWorld Literature Today,Gaddsaysof
Lim that this collection ‘‘confirms her as a writer of
verse that is not only perceptive and intelligent but
also enjoyable.’’ Lim’s poetry is compared favor-
ably with the English romantic tradition, and in
particular her use of imagery is described as being
‘‘lush.’’ Gadd refers to Lim’s writing as ‘‘quick with
intelligence.’’ Although Lim’s literary work has not
received as much attention as one might expect, the
attention she has received has been largely positive.Criticism.
Sheri Metzger Karmiol
Karmiol has a doctorate in English Renaissance
literature and teaches literature and drama at the
University of New Mexico, where she is a lecturer in
the university honors program. She is also a profes-
sional writer and the author of several reference texts
on poetry and drama. In this essay, Karmiol dis-
cusses Lim’s use of imagery in ‘‘Pantoun for Chinese
Women.’’
Poetry can provide readers with a way to
view ideas, history, and customs that might oth-
erwise never be experienced. Poetry illuminates a
world that readers have never seen, never visited,
and in some cases, never knew existed. Poetry
educates and inspires, and it changes the world
by illuminating injustice and by showing readers
that the world needs to be changed. Poetry cre-
ates an emotional response that can make it
difficult for readers to simply walk away from
suffering. Most importantly, poetry clarifies the
injustices of bias and discrimination and edu-
cates readers about the need for change. In ‘‘Pan-
toun for Chinese Women,’’ Shirley Lim uses
analogy and imagery to create a picture of help-
lessness and oppression in women’s lives.
Poetry uses language to create meaning, but
not in the same way that prose creates meaning.
Poetic meaning is derived from the reader’s own
experience, which in part depends on the analo-
gies created by the poet. For instance, in Maxine
Hong Kingston’s memoirThe Woman Warrior:
Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts, the narra-
tor tells the story of her mother, who was a mid-
wife in their village. In one instance, her mother
delivered a baby who was born without an anus
and who was subsequently left outside in the
outhouse to die. The narrator uses this story as
an example to suggest that her mother was not
one of those midwives who would ‘‘prepare a box
of clean ashes beside the birth bed in case of a
girl.’’ In such cases, if the baby was a girl, the
baby’s face would be buried in the ashes. The
narrator’s mother said of the act of smothering
the baby, ‘‘It was very easy.’’ While this dramatic
episode is designed to get the reader’s attention, it
does not function in the same way as a poeticPantoun for Chinese Women