1887.

Spanish versification has nothing to do with the quantity of vowels
(whether long or short), which was the basis of Latin prosody.

There are four important elements in Spanish versification. Of these
four elements two are essential, and the other two are usually
present.

The essential elements, without which Spanish verse cannot exist,
are--

I. A determined number of syllables per line.

II. A rhythmic distribution of the accents in the line.

The additional elements usually present in Spanish poetical
compositions are--

III. Caesural pauses.

IV. Rhyme.


I. SYLLABIFICATION

Consonants.--In verse the same rules hold as in prose for the
distribution of consonants in syllables.

Vowels.--If there were but one vowel in a syllable, Spanish