Legends, Tales and Poems. Bécquer Gustavo Adolfo

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СКАЧАТЬ uneven verses of compositions written in hendecasyllables, or in verses that rhyme with them. Sometimes the four verses are esdrújulos.

      6. Romances, which are the most used of all forms, need not be written in cuartetas. It is sufficient that the even verses be in assonance and the uneven verses free. Romances, properly so called, are composed of octosyllabic verses.

      7. Romancillos are romances composed of verses with less than eight syllables.

      Romances heróicos are romances composed of hendecasyllabic verses, all of which are llanos.

      8. Quintillas are combinations of five verses that have but two rhymes, of which one occurs three times and the other twice. These verses may rhyme at the will of the poet, provided that three verses having the same rhyme do not follow each other successively. Of the possible arrangements the following occur most frequently: a a b b a, a b b a a, a b a b a, a b a b b.

      9. Sextinas are usually composed of six hendecasyllabic verses in which a serventesio is followed by a pareado.

      The first, third, and fifth verses, however, may rhyme together, and the second, fourth, and sixth.

      There are also sextinas which have the third and sixth verses with a consonantal rhyme in words that are agudas, while the first and second, and the fourth and fifth, form pareados.

      In compositions written in sextinas the succeeding strophes have the same arrangement as the first.

      10. Octavas:

      a. Octavas de Arte mayor are composed of eight dodecasyllables divided into two equal hemistichs, with the accents on the second, fifth, seventh, and eleventh syllables. The first verse rhymes with the fourth, fifth, and eighth; the second with the third; and the sixth with the seventh. Sometimes the second rhymes with the fourth, the fifth with the eighth, the first with the third, the sixth with the seventh.

      b. Octavas reales are strophes of eight hendecasyllabic verses (llanos), of which the first six rhyme alternately and the last two form a pareado.

      When octavas of this form have eight-syllable verses or less, they are called octavillas.

      c. Octavas and Octavillas Italianas:

      There are four variants, but all must have the fourth and eighth verses agudos.

      First variant: There is no verso libre, and the rhyme-scheme is a b b c a d d c.

      Second variant: The first and fifth verses are libres and the others rhyme 1 b b c 5 d d c. This form is the most used of all.

      Third variant: All the verses are libres except the fourth and eighth.

      Fourth variant: The rhymes have some other arrangement than those mentioned in the three preceding cases.

      11. Décimas are strophes of ten octosyllabic verses with the rhyme-scheme a b b a a c c d d c.

      Thus far all the compositions treated have been strophes, of which all the lines have the same number of syllables.

      The most common strophes having an unequal number of syllables in the component verses are as follows:

      12. Endechas reales are cuartetas in which three heptasyllables are followed by a hendecasyllable. The even verses are usually in assonance, although the verses may have the rhyme-scheme a b a b.

      13. The Lira is a strophe of five verses, of which the first, third, and fourth are heptasyllables, and the second and fifth are hendecasyllables. The rhyme-scheme is a b a b b.

      14. Seguidillas are strophes composed of seven verses, three of which are heptasyllables and four pentasyllables. The first, third, and sixth verses are libres, the second and fourth have the same assonance, and the fifth and seventh another distinct assonance.

      15. Silvas are series of strophes composed of hendecasyllables and heptasyllables of unequal number and unevenly distributed with a free arrangement of rhymes. Every verse should rhyme with another, yet sometimes a verse is left unrhymed in long compositions.

      16. The Sonnet is taken from the Italian and has the same general forms. It is written in hendecasyllables, and is always divided into four parts—two quatrains and two tercets.

      17. Versos sueltos (blank verse) are verses which do not assonate with the other contiguous verses, or with the nearest words in which the sense demands a pause.

      There are many other and very artificial forms that exist, but their treatment would be irrelevant here. During the nineteenth century the caprice of the poet invented many new forms of which the arrangement is evident at a glance.

      In closing, it should be said that this study of Spanish prosody, which is primarily intended as an aid to the reading of Becquer's poetry contained in this volume, is necessarily too brief to be exhaustive, and many things are purposely omitted, as, for example, certain unusual forms of verse such as the nine-syllable verse or that of more than twelve syllables. Wherever it has been found convenient, references have been made to Becquer's poems to illustrate points of versification.

      LEGENDS, TALES, AND POEMS

      BY BECQUER

      DESDE MI CELDA

      (Cartas Literarias)

      CARTA SEXTA

      Queridos amigos: Hará cosa de dos à tres años, tal vez leerían[1] ustedes en los periódicos de Zaragoza[2] la relación de un crimen que tuvo lugar en uno de los pueblecillos de estos contornos. Tratábase del asesinato de una pobre vieja á quien sus convecinos acusaban de bruja. Últimamente, y por una coincidencia extraña, he tenido ocasión de conocer los detalles y la historia circunstanciada de un hecho que se comprende apenas en mitad de un siglo tan despreocupado como el nuestro.[3]

      [Footnote 1: leerían ustedes = 'you may have read.']

      [Footnote 2: Zaragoza = 'Saragossa.' A Spanish city of some 99,000 inhabitants, capital of the province of the same name, situated on the Ebro river at its junction with the Huerva. It is famous for its two cathedrals, El Pilar and La Seo, and for its obstinate and heroic resistance at the time of the siege by the French in 1808.]

      [Footnote 3: The belief in witchcraft is still prevalent in some quarters, and as late as 1863 a man was drowned at Hedingham, in Essex, Eng., for being a wizard, his accusers and persecutors being village tradesmen. See Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, Phila., Lippincott & Co., 1884, p. 345.]

      Ya estaba para acabar el día. El cielo, que desde el amanecer se mantuvo cubierto y nebuloso, comenzaba á obscurecerse á medida que el sol, que antes transparentaba su luz á través de las nieblas, iba debilitándose, cuando, con la esperanza de ver su famoso castillo como término y remate de mi artística expedición, dejé á Litago[1] para encaminarme á Trasmoz,[2] pueblo del que me separaba una distancia de tres cuartos de hora por el camino más corto. Como de costumbre, y exponiéndome, á trueque de examinar á mi gusto los parajes más ásperos y accidentados, á las fatigas y la incomodidad de perder el camino por entre aquellas zarzas y peñascales, tomé el más difícil, el más dudoso y más largo, y lo perdí en efecto, á pesar de las minuciosas instrucciones de que me pertreché á la salida del lugar.

      [Footnote СКАЧАТЬ