Mastering Lyric Poetry: Prose vs Verse and Meter

Lyric Poetry and the Artist's Inner World

Lyric Poetry is the literary and poetic genre or singing that originates from the artist's inner world.

Comparative Study of Language in Prose and Verse

Prose

• It is the natural form of spoken and written language.
• No similar sounds are repeated to achieve a specific rate or rhythm.
• The text is structured in paragraphs and sentences.
• The intonation is determined by punctuation marks, which give meaning to the text.
• The breaks coincide with the meaning of the phrase.

Verse

• It is a special form of language, both spoken and written.
• To achieve the desired rhythm, it makes use of special items such as action, rhyme, pause, and accent.
• The text is structured in stanzas, and these are composed of verses.
• The intonation is determined by metric pauses and internal breaks (at the end).
• The breaks do not necessarily coincide with the general meaning of the phrase.

Traditional Elements of Verse

Measures and Poetic License

Measurement: This refers to the number of metric syllables within a verse.

Poetic Licenses

• Sinalefa: Consists of the merger into a single syllable of the final vowel of one word with the initial vowel of the next.
• Law of Accents:
  1. If the last word of the verse is acute (oxytone), the count is increased by one syllable.
     Example: "Along the meantime I mar." (7 + 1 = 8 syllables)
  2. If the last word of the verse is grave (paroxytone), the count remains the same.
     Example: "I saw you floating in the bruma." (8 syllables)
  3. If the last word of the verse is esdrújula (proparoxytone), subtract one syllable.
     Example: "As he walked by America." (9 - 1 = 8 syllables)
• Diéresis: Consists of forming two syllables from two vowels that usually form a diphthong (often marked with two dots over the vowel, such as the ü).
• Syneresis: It consists of forming a diphthong between vowels that would normally form a hiatus.
  Example: "My compliments, cruel Galatea." (11 syllables)

Rhyme, Rhythm, and Pauses

• Rhyme: Rhyme means equal sounds of two or more verses starting from the last stressed vowel.
  Example:
  "I meanwhile seaside ar.
  Wait your coming
  And in an eternal wait ar."
• Rhythm: It consists of the harmonious arrangement of accents within the verse.
• The Breaks: There are three classes or types of breaks:
  • Cesura: The pause that occurs in the middle of a verse (/).
  • Minor Pause: Corresponds to the end of each verse (//).
  • Major Pause: Corresponds to the end of a stanza (///).