Décima, Décima Espinela, Espinela, the Décima Italiana and the Italian Décima Rima
- Décima is a Spanish term of the 14th and 15th centuries referring to any 10 line stanza. In the 16th century, the poet adventurer Vencinente Espinela developed the Décima into the verse form of today the Décima orDécima Espinela or simply Espinela . By whatever title, it is commonly referred to as “the little sonnet”.
The Décima or Décima Espinela or Espinela is:
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stanzaic, written in any number of 10 line stanzas.
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syllabic, 8 syllables per line.
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rhymed, abba : accddc . The colon represents a pause, therefore L4 should be end stopped.
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composed with the 7th syllable of every line stressed. (This is probably easier to do in Spanish than in English.)
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variable. There is a variation of the Espinela that is written in 12 line stanzas rhyme abba : accddcxd, x being unrhymed.
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Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1029
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
My example
Turkey Gaffe (Décima)
My dad had a quirky turkey
that was thin as macaroni,
very skinny, and quite bony;
so dad turned him into jerky.
Dad’s neighbor thought that was quirky,
deemed all birds were meant for roasting,
all marshmallows meant for toasting,
what’s not fried was meant for baking.
Dad’s jerky he was forsaking
at the luncheon he was hosting.
© Lawrencealot – November 29, 2014
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