Sir Stamford Raffles' collectors publish the first systematic anthology of Malay pantun (oral folk quatrains), documenting the abab-rhymed form with its characteristic couplet-couplet structure (sampiran first two lines, maksud meaning in final two). These verses encode village folklore, proverbs (peribahasa), and animist beliefs, using intricate sound-play (pantun berkait) and metaphor (kias).

The pantun's formalization influenced colonial-era poets (Hugh Clifford, Frank Swettenham) and postcolonial Malay poets (Masuri S.N., A. Samad Said), who adapted its folk logic and symmetrical structure into modern written poetry. The pantun's migration into French literature via Victor Hugo's Orientalist poems proves how transcribed folk forms travel across languages, influencing poets (Paul Valéry) seeking alternative prosodic models beyond Western syllabics.