Campos de Castilla – Versification (Lecture 1)

Spanish poetry is syllabic

 Based on number of syllables it contains
 Pattern of stresses may change
Poetry follows the patterns of natural speech

When a word ending with a vowel precedes a word beginning with a vowel, the
vowels blend together

Syllabification
 Breaking up words into syllables
 Most consonant clusters will break apart in the syllables
o Tam-bor, Can-to
o There are some exceptions to this rule
 -rr, u, -ch, oo
o Some consonants cannot be separated from other consonants
 r, l
o 4 consonants together will be separated in the middle
 cons-truc-tor

Strong vowels
 A, E, O
 These can act as consonants

Weak vowels
 I, U
 These need another vowel or an accent to be separated

Dipthongs
AI – Aire AU - Aula EI – Peine
EU – Europa OI – Boina IA – Historia
UI – Cuidado IE – Tiene IO – Colegio
UA UE – Aeropuerto UO - Cuota
IU - Cuidad

Metaplasmos
 Elision
o Cutting out part of a word
o D’
 Afréresis
o Cutting the start of a word
o ‘Ora’ for ‘ahora’
 Caesura
o A pause in a line where you can breathe