Chapter II: Rhythmic Accent

The second essential element of Spanish verse is a rhythmic distribution of accents within a line. Words have an accent of their own and another stronger accent on account of their position in a verse.

This extraordinary accentual stress, which strengthens periodically certain naturally accented syllables of a verse, is known as _rhythmic accent_. It plays somewhat the same rôle as did quantity in Latin verse. All other accents and pauses in the verse are subservient to the rhythmic accent.

Spanish verse being accentual, however, and not quantitative, the terms used to determine the regular recurrence of long and short syllables in Latin verse are not very applicable to it, and few compositions are regular in the arrangement of the stress.

A. LATIN TERMS OF VERSIFICATION APPLIED TO SPANISH VERSE

As Latin terms of versification are sometimes applied to Spanish verse, the following rules may be helpful.

A _trochaic_ octosyllabic line, for example, substituting stress for quantity, would be scanned

/ -- | / -- | / -- | / --,

with the stress on the first, third, fifth, and seventh syllables.

_Iambic_ verse would have a regular alternation of unaccented and accented syllables, -- / -- /, etc.

_Dactylic_ verse would have a regular recurrence of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables, etc.

/ -- -- | / -- -- |, etc.

_Amphibrachic_ verse would be formed by a regular recurrence of three syllables of which the middle one would be stressed, -- / --. This construction is sometimes followed in lines of twelve syllables (p. 164, I, 1. 2), and also in lines of six syllables (p. 167, VII, 1.-4).

_Anapestic_ verse consists of a regular recurrence of two unstressed syllables preceding a stressed syllable, -- -- /. This is sometimes found in ten-syllable lines (p. 164, I, 1. i).

B. SPANISH VERSE ENDINGS

An accented word is called _aguda_ when it has the accent on the last syllable, e.g. _verdad, luz, yo_; _llana_ (or grave) when it has the accent on the penult, e.g. _trabajo, fruto_; _esdrújula_ when it has the accent on the antepenult, e.g. _límpido, pájaro, pórtico_.

A verse is called _agudo, llano_ (or grave), or _esdrújulo_ according to whether its final word is _aguda, llana_ (or grave), or _esdrújula_.

In a _verso agudo_ the last syllable counts for two syllables. Therefore, _Ni tu ni yo jamás_, p. 177, XXXIII, l. 2, is a heptasyllable.

In a _verso llano_ (grave) the number of syllables does not change. Therefore, _Detrás del abanico_, p. 180, XL, l. 27, is a heptasyllable.

In a _verso esdrújulo_, the intermediate syllable between the accented syllable and the final syllable does not count, either in enumerating the syllables in the verse or for the rhyme (assonance). Therefore, _Umbrales de su pórtico_, p. 180, XL, l. 32, is a heptasyllable.