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In general the metre of a Spanish poetical composition is regulated by its pauses, accents, rhyme and, in most cases, its strophic arrangement.

I. Pauses.—Of these there are three kinds:

(1) the pausa mayor, or chief pause, ending the strophe;

(2) the pausa media, or pause of moderate duration, separating the larger symmetrical parts of a strophe;

(3) the pausa menor, or slight pause, separating one verse from another.

The pausa mayor generally coincides with the end of a sentence, or at least (as in sonnets, octaves, etc.) with that of the larger members or clauses of a sentence. The pausa media is more varied in its distribution, since perfect symmetry and continual uniformity would make the metre monotonous. The pausa menor should generally coincide with a break in the thought, but enjambement, or the violent carrying over of the thought from one line to another, is not unknown; cf. p. 97, l. 14.

II. Accents and Rhythm.—The regular recurrence of accents in a verse gives it its rhythmical character. The rhythmical divisions of a Spanish verse are, as a rule, either dissyllabic or trisyllabic. When dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable, they are called trochaic:

Dìme | puès, pas|tòr ga|rrìdo.

When dissyllabic and accented on the second syllable, they are iambic:

¿A dón|de vàs, | perdì|da?

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When trisyllabic and accented on the first syllable, they are dactylic; Moratín:

Sùban al|cèrco de Olimpo lu|ciènte.

When trisyllabic and accented on the second syllable, they are amphibrachs; Mena:

Con crìnes | tendìdos | ardèr los | comètas.

When trisyllabic and accented on the third syllable, they are anapæsts; Iriarte:

De sus hì|jos la tòr|pe avutàr|da.

The terms given marked in Latin a quantitative division into feet, while in Spanish they denote only accentual conditions.

A syllable may be lacking at the end of a verse (then called catalectic); trochaic:

Yà los | càmpos | òrna A|bril;

in one of amphibrachs:

Derràma | su páli|da lùz;

dactylic:

Hìnche los | àires ce|lèste armo|nía;

dactylic with two syllables lacking:

Sè oye á lo | lèjos tre|mèndo fra|gòr.

In an iambic or an anapæstic verse, there may be one or two unaccented syllables in excess; in a verse of trochees or amphibrachs, one:

¿A dón|de vàs | perdì|da?

Suspì|ra el blàn|do cé|firo.

Sacudièn|do las sèl|vas el á|brego.

Tiènde el | mànto | nòche | lóbre|ga.

El nìdo | desièrto | de míse|ra tórto|la.

But all verses are not subjected rigorously to rhythmical division according to the types explained. In trochaic and iambic verses not exceeding eight syllables in length xxxiii and not intended for singing, no accent is obligatory except that of the last division (or foot). The rhythmical nature of the composition then depends upon the regular recurrence of this final accent.

Not all accents satisfy the rhythmical requirements in a verse. Insufficient accents are those of the prepositions that have one (contra, para, etc.), those of the demonstratives before their nouns, those of the forms of the indefinite article (the definite article has none), those of monosyllabic adverbs before the words that they modify (bien alojado, etc.). Moreover, the verse is impaired when a strong, accidental accent precedes immediately a necessary accent, as in Mis ruegos cruèl òye.

Cæsura.—In the longer verses, a necessary pause or break in a determined place is called the cæsura. The cæsura requires a strong accent on the word preceding it, and does not prevent synalœpha; Garcilaso:

¿Ves el furor | del animoso viento

Embravecido | en la fragosa sierra?

The different kinds of verse.—N.B. In naming Spanish verse forms, all syllables, even those after the final accent, are taken into account.

The longest trochaic verse is the octosyllabic. In its typical form it has four accents, viz., on the first, third, fifth and seventh syllables:

Bràma, | bùfa, es|càrba, | huèle.

But only one of the rhythmical accents is necessary, viz., that on the seventh syllable; Heredia:

Ya tu familia gozòsa

Se prepara, amado pàdre.

For the purposes of singing, the third syllable should be stressed as well as the seventh.

Compositions in six-syllabled verses, with the accent on the fifth syllable (hexasyllables), may have the trochaic xxxiv metre, but are likely to intermingle the trochees with amphibrachs; e.g., Espronceda:

Músicas lejànas;	Trochees.
De enlutado pàrche
Redòble monótono;	Amphibrachs.
Cercàno huracán.

Four-syllabled (tetrasyllabic) trochaic lines may accent the first and third syllables, but only the accent on the third syllable is requisite; Iriarte:

A una mòna

Muy taimàda

Dìjo un día

Cièrta urràca.

When it alternates with other longer verses, the four-syllabled trochaic is called the verso quebrado.

Iambics.—The longest iambic verse is the alexandrine of the French type. It has thirteen syllables and a central cæsura dividing it into hemistichs. The first hemistich may end in a stressed vowel or have an unaccented vowel after the stress, but in the latter case synalœpha must join the unaccented vowel to the following hemistich; Iriarte:

En cierta catedral | una campana había

Que sólo se tocaba | algún solemne día.

Con el más recio son, | con pausado compás,

Cuatro golpes ó tres | solía dar no más.

N.B.—When both hemistichs end in an accented vowel, the line has but twelve syllables. Sometimes the alexandrine adapts itself to the anapæstic metre, as in Iriarte:

Que despàcio y muy rècio | el dichòso esquilón.

At all events, the only necessary rhythmical accents are those on the sixth and the twelfth syllable. An older form of the alexandrine also existed (see below).

The eleven-syllabled iambic line is called the heroic xxxv verse, from its use in epics, or the hendecasyllable (see below).

The nine-syllabled iambic verse is of French origin. The perfect type, with accents on the second, fourth, sixth and eighth syllables, is seen in

No dè jamás mi dùlce pàtria

La nòble frènte al yùgo vìl.

Only the accent on the eighth syllable is necessary; e.g., Iriarte: