's _Ortologia y
metrica_ (Vol. IV of _Obras completas_, Madrid, 1890), or the _Prosodia
castellana y versificacion_ of E. Benot; or to the more easily
accessible notes on Spanish versification in Hills and Morley's _Modern
Spanish Lyrics_ or Ford's _Spanish Anthology_.

Some knowledge of two of the essential differences between Spanish and
English versification is needed for the appreciation of the poetry of
this play. Whereas in English poetry the number of feet to the line is
essential, in Spanish the basis of meter is the number of syllables;
moreover, in syllable-counting there are certain rules (too complicated
to be given here) regarding the treatment of contiguous vowels as one
syllable or more than one. Another difference that should be noted is
that in Spanish poetry there are two kinds of rime, consonantal rime and
assonance. Consonantal rime is the same as that used in English poetry,
identity of the last stressed vowel sound as well as all following vowel
or consonant sounds in two or more verses; as for example, in lines
127-130, Act I, _clemencia, Valencia: favor, mejor_. Assonance is
identity in a series of verses of the last stressed vowel and of a
following unstressed vowel, if there be one, but not of a consonant; in
other words, assonance is the correspondence of the vowels, but not of
the consonants, in the riming syllables. Thus, in the first 110 lines of
the play, all the even verses have the same vowel in the last stressed
syllables: _volver, administre, fiel, pie, Adel, partire, el, rey_, etc.
Only the strong vowel in a diphthong is recognized, so that in these 110
lines the assonance of the alternate verses is in _e_. In the first 148
lines of Act IV all the even verses have one and the same vowel in the
last accented syllable and one and the same vowel in the unaccented
syllable: _pueblo, bandoleros, prenderlos, tiempo, vinieron, provecho_,
etc. The assonance is, therefore, _e-o_.

Of the many verse-forms, _i.e._, definite combinations of line and rime,
to be found in Spanish poetry, we find the following in this play:
_romance, romance heroico, redondilla, quintilla, decima, copla de arte
mayor_, and _silva_.

The _romance_, or ballad meter, is the most thoroughly national of all
Spanish meters and has always been very popular with the dramatists. It
has, regularly, eight syllables to the line, with a regular rhythmic
accent on the seventh, and has assonance in the alternate lines. The
seve