Romance versifieations, by their accent, fall into two great groups, iambic or trochaic verse, verse with rising or falling rhythm. Under the first group, the ten-syllable verse is the most Romance of all Romance verses. The oldest form of this is that which has an extra syllable at the end of the bemistieh or verse. These extra syllables could fall in the development of Ro mance tongues without changing the rhythm. The twelve-syllable verse with accented sixth or fourth) and eleventh syllables must he consid ered as the oldest historical ancestor of the ten-syllable verse, and this twelve-syllable verse probably goes back to a fourteen-syllable form with accented sixth and twelfth, and consider ations from the history of language strengthen this r•iew, This ten-syllable verse with accented sixth or fourth syllable was the verse of the Chanson de Roland and of most of the assonated chmisons dc grate, and is generally common in French lyrics, From the end of the twelfth cen tury it lost ground, but in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it reached popularity again as ' wars comainn; and then gradually (lied out. The Provencal ten-syllable verse is not neces s:u•ily borrowed from France, but is early found and iiueli used in Provencal lyrics. In Italian the cut/ems/Hobo, as the ten-syllable verse is called, because of its regular feminine verse ending, has held almost undisputed sway in all literary genres from the thirteenth century to the present day. It is probably a native growth, strongly influenced by the Provencal ten-syllahle verse. The ten-syllable verse entered Spain with Prmencal poetry, and was sparingly and closely imitated. In the fifteenth century came a new introduction from Italy, and it was very popular for a time, yet it was built entirely on Italian tic?dels.
The eight-syllahle verse is Fully of popular origin, and can he followed nearly as far hack as the ten-syllable. At first it shows two fixed accented syllables. and was among the most popu lar versifications of French and Provencal litera ture. All narrative poetry of the :\liddle Ages in North and South France use the eight-syllable verse, and the courtly epos and older. dranm are nearly exclusively eight-syllable. It is gen erally rhymed in pairs in this period. Since the middle of the sixteenth century it has lost ground and is now used only in lyrics. It is a. stranger to Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
In France the twelve-syllable verse with Ae cented sixth succeeded to the place of the ten and eight-syllable verses. First called Alexandrine in the fifteenth century, it was much used in eh° nsons dr free, and in drama and didactic poetry of the Middle Ages. Out of style in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it became the verse of classicism in the sixteenth century, and has been important ever since. The rhyming in pairs, so common in Renaissance poetry, is very seldom found in earlier times. In Provencal the twelve-syllable verse is used far less than in France, and is probably an imitation. In Italian are found some early examples, and also in folk song, so that perhaps it is native and ancestor of the ten-syllahle verse with accented sixth. The
earliest twelve-syllable verses in Spain are in the thirteenth century. They are distinctly imi tations of French Alexandrines and are hound in four-line strophes of one rhyme, exactly as in France. Moreover, they are always called rcrsos f ranceses.
The twelve-syllable verse with accented fourth, eighth, and twelfth syllables, is of popular origin, and is found somewhat in French and Provencal poetry.
The six-syllable verse is a free creation of the Romance people and is considerably found in Italian as the sett cowl-lc). though seldom used as the exclusive verse of a complete poem. It is less used in Provencal, modern French, and old Portuguese lyrics.
The four-syllable and two-syllable verses are found in lyrics, and are due to dissection of longer verses.
The trochaic verses are native to Spain and Portugal, and are generally little used in France, Provence, and Italy.
The fourteen-syllable verse with accented seventh was very popular in Spain as verse of the romances, and later of the drama, and goes back to the eatalectic trochaic tetrameter, which is very popular in older rhythmic Latin poetry. Also the lines of the Poona dcl ('id, a poem of the twelfth century. but preserved in a garbled manuscript of the fourteenth century, are muti lated fourteen-syllable lines, and not, as sonic have tried to prove, imitations of the French Alexandrine.
The ten-syllable verse with accented fifth is clo,ely allied to the fourteen-syllable, and is called verso de arse mayor. It falls into two lines of five syllables each and is met in purely lyrical romances. The fourteen-syllable verse is again shortened into the eleven-syllable with accented seventh, the rcrxo dc redondilla mayor con pie gnebrado. This is also found in Provencal, and sometimes bound in strophes with fourteen-sylla ble verses. The nine-syllable verse is a further of the fohvteenrsyllalle. Examples are found in Italian, Galician, 1'ro•encal, old and modern French.
:Much more abundant is the seven-syllable verse, verso or (rite real, or de redandilla mayor, which is the independent half of the fourteen syllable, and is also related to the similarly cut trochaic tetrameter. As a result, of this break ing up of the fonrteen-syllolde came the four-line strophes with cross rhyme—such as the later ballads offer. This seven-syllable verse is also seen in the lyric poetry of North and South France. Ancassin et Nicolette is written in this verse in single assonance tirades.
The five-syllable, or rcdondilla de arty in en or. is often met in Spanish and Portuguese, and comes through division of the ten-syllable trochaic verse with accented fifth. Three-sylla ble and one-syllable verses, from the breaking up of longer verses, are little more than tests of metrical skill.
As time went on the number of syllabic series was generally reduced to two at most, and feel ing for independent nature of the syllabic series was gradually lost. In the binding together of verses, assonance was replaced by rhyme; in some countries earlier, in some later. A great number of rhyme schemes grew up. many of them being later abandoned.