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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The most pretentious treatise on Castilian versification before the Golden Age is the “Libro segundo en que trata de la prosodia i sîlaba” of Antonio de Nebrija's Gramdtica castellana, first published in 1492. It is written by a scholar—not a poet, though Nebrija, Spain's first great humanist, did write some verses—a scholar whose classic learning determined his approach to the study of the vernacular in matters of versification. Nebrija's learning, however, did not blind him to the fundamental facts of Castilian practice in verse, though it may have slightly obscured his vision at times and warped his interpretation of certain phases of Spanish metrics. And it did cause him to discover in Castilian verse certain fundamental principles hidden from many theorists and prosodists even to the present day, yet for centuries instinctively practiced by poets. Nebrija studied and analyzed the nature of Castilian verse “en el buen uso” (Cap. viii) as it existed shortly before the introduction of Italianate meters in Spanish. The time is significant, as En-cina explains in the introduction to his Arte de poesia castellana (p. ii):
Note 1 in page 27 Ed. Pascual Galindo Romeo and Luis Ortiz Mufioz (Madrid, 1946), Vol. I. Recent studies on Nebrija's treatise on metrics are: Joaquín Ealaguer, “Las ideas de Nebrija acerca de la versificación castellana,” Bolelín del Institute Caro y Cuervo. I (Bogotá, 1945), 558–573, and Apuntes para una hisloria prosôdica de la métrica castellana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifîcas (Madrid, 1954).
Note 2 in page 27 See n. 16, below.
Note 3 in page 27 Cf. Juan del Encina's practical treatise, Una arte de poesia castellana, in his Cancionero (1496), fac. ed., Real Academia Espafiola (Madrid, 1928), based entirely on actual common usage of the time.
Note 4 in page 28 The 13th-century attempt to measure verse by syllable count, in the cuaderna via, apparently came rapidly to naught, if we can judge by available texts of Berceo's successors. It was instituted by force, figuratively speaking, and for almost 2 centuries Castilian verse seems gradually to have given way to accentual measure. The introduction and popularity of the regular octosyllable in the 15th century (though found in regular form earlier) started a tendency toward syllable count that finally achieved importance almost equal to that of rhythmic beat, even in the arte mayor.
Note 5 in page 28 Cancionero, fol. iiiv.
Note 6 in page 28 The editors of Nebrija's Gramdlica remark in a note to this portion of the passage: “Alusión a la costumbre renacentista de escribir versos latinos a la manera clâsica que Nebrija encontre ya de moda durante su estancia en Italia y que practice él mismo en sus varias composiciones poéticas. Recuérdese, por ejemplo, como más conocidas su oda Salutatio ad Patriam y su elegia De Patriae antiquitale” (p. 244).
Note 7 in page 29 See Wayland J. Chase, “The Ars Minor of Donatus,” Univ. of Wis. Stud, in the Soc. Sci. and Hist., No. 11 (Madison, 1926).
Note 8 in page 31 “… avemos aqui de presuponer lo que diximos enel quinto capitulo deste libro, que en comienço del verso podemos entrar con medio pie perdido el cual no entra enel cuento i medida conlos otros.” Nebrija here refers the reader to Ch. v.
Note 9 in page 31 For the definition of the verso idmbico see quotation (p. 30 above) from Cap. viii. The definition of versos adónicos will be quoted below.
Note 10 in page 32 See the following studies by Aurelio M. Espinosa in RR: “La sinalefa entre versos en la versificación española,” xvi (1925), 103–121; “La compensación entre versos en la versification española,” xvi (1925), 306–329; “La sinalefa y la compensaciôn en la versificación espafiola,” xix (1928), 289–301, xx (1929), 44–53. 11 Compare these verses from Nebrija's favorite Castilian poet, Juan de Mena: Venid, lisongeras canas, / que tardays demasiado; tirad presumpciones vanas / al tiempo tan mal gastado;.
faga mi nueuo cuydado / a my biuo entender, incierto del bien fazer / y del mal certificado. Cancionero castdlano del sigh XV (ed. R. Foulché-Delbosc, Madrid, i, 1912,120).
Note 12 in page 33 See D. C. Clarke, “Miscellaneous Strophe Forms in the Fifteenth Century Court Lyric,” HR, xvi (1948), 148–153. 13 The 3rd, “el trimetro iámbico,” will be discussed below. 14 See quotation from Cap. vi (p. 41 below).
Note 15 in page 34 In the last chapter (x), on the composition of the copia, he again makes it clear that he considers the line as one unbroken verse: “Mas, si todos los versos caen debaxo de un consonante, Uamarse an astrophos que quiere dezir sin tornada, cuales son los tetrametros en que diximos que se componian aquellos cantares que llaman romances.” 16 Wolf y Hofmann, Primavera y flor de romames (Berlin, 1865), no. 147.
Note 17 in page 34 M. Menéndez y Pelayo, Anlol. de poêlas líricos castellanos … (Madrid, 1928), ix, 218.
Note 18 in page 34 la reyna doña Ysabel / la mas temida y amada su bever y su comer / es de lloro y amargura aver le de consolar / no basta seso y cordura del amor y su poder / no ay quien pueda ser librado (fol. lxxxvii)
Note 19 in page 35 See D. C. Clarke: “Remarks on the Early romances and canlares,” ER, xvii (1949), 120–121; and “Versification in Alfonso el sabio's Cantigas, HR, xxiii (1955), 83–98.
Note 20 in page 36 See D. C. Clarke, “On Juan del Encina's ‘Una arte de poesía castellana’,” Romance Philology, vi (1953), 254–259.
Note 21 in page 36 In the preliminary chapter of his Cancionero Encina states: “… y bien creo aver otros que primero que yo tomassen este trabajo e mas copiosa mente: mas es cierto que ami noticia no ha llegado: salvo aquello que el notable maestro de lebrixa en su arte de romance acerca desta facultad muy perfetamente puso.”
Note 22 in page 37 It must be remembered that dáctilo and espondeo are merely convenient terms with which Nebrija designates 3-syllable and 2-syllable units that, one would suppose, may be accented on any syllable (see quotation above). In the chapter on the verso adónico, however, one is given the impression that Nebrija has in mind only the pattern.
Note 23 in page 39 Syllables in parentheses are optional.
Note 24 in page 39 See R. Foulché-Delbosc, “Etude sur le Laberinto de Juan de Mena,” Revue Hispanique, ix (1902), pp. 81 ff: Julio Saavedra Molina, El verso de arte mayor (Santiago de Chile, 1946); D. C. Clarke, “Metric Problems in the Cancionero de romances,” HR, xxiii (1955), 188–199.
Note 25 in page 40 See D. C. Clarke, “Fortuna del hiato y de la sinalefa en la poesfa lírica castellana del siglo quince,” Bulletin Hispanique, lvii (1955), 129-132.
Note 26 in page 40 The fact that Nebrija mentions poorly measured verse makes one suspect that a noticeable amount of it existed and calls to mind Encina's complaint, quoted above. Apparently the rules underwent a hard struggle to impose themselves on those who would call themselves poets. 41
Note 27 in page 41 See n. 14, p. 253 in the Gramdtica (ed. cit.), where the editors express their belief that Nebrija probably had read Encina's work. They conclude: “La manera de hablar de Nebrija indica claramente que se trata de una obra ya compuesta, pero que aun tardarâ algûn tiempo en ser del dominio publico, pues de otro modo semejante discurso résulta ininteligible. Pero, si se admite la lecciôn ‘se imprime’ o ‘se emprenta,’ todo queda suficiente-mente aclarado; no admitida y mantenido ‘se entiende,’ résulta una contradiction o al menos cierta insoluble oscuridad, cualquiera que sea el sentido que pudiera atribuirse en este caso al verbo ‘entender.-
Note 28 in page 41 In it he gives names to and loosely defines stanzas of from 1 to 6 lines, mentions the romance, states that any strophe (except the romance) of more than 6 lines is simply “dos versos en una copia,” and adds that a stanza usually has a maximum of 12 lines, “salvo los romances que no tienen numéro cierto.” 42
Note 29 in page 42 Alfonso de Baena had listed these elements without explanation almost half a century earlier in the prologue to his Cancioitero (ed. Eug. de Ochoa and P. J. Pidal, Madrid, 1851, p. 9) : “… el arte de la poetrya é gaya çiençia es una escryptura e conpusiçion … la qual çiençia é avisaçion é dotrina que délia dépende é es avida é rreçebida é alcançada por gracia infusa del señor Dios que la da é la enbya é influye en aquel ó aquellos que byen é sabya é sotyl é derechamente la saben fazer é ordenar é conponer é limar é escandir é medir por sus piés é pausas, é por sus consonantes é sylabas é açentos, é por artes sotiles é de muy diversas é syngulares nonbranças …” The word pausa in this quotation would, if it has the meaning of ‘rest-beat,’ add a 4th element, overlooked by Nebrija. However, the probable meaning is not ‘rest-beat,’ tempting though the interpretation is, but ‘caesura,’ which is not treated by Nebrija. In regard to caesura Nebrija's concept of the arte mayor verse differs radically from that of Baena—and therefore probably from that of the poets of his time—as well as from that of Encina in that he considers the arte mayor a combination of 2 short independent verses whereas they consider it simply a single long verse whose length is relieved by a midway pause or break. Incidentally, if Baena's pausa should mean ‘rest-beat,’ Baena and Encina would still be in opposition to Nebrija in regard to their conception of the structure of the arte mayor verse: the 6-syllable hemistich that may begin with a rest-beat versus the 5-syllable hemistich that may begin with an uncounted syllable.
Note 30 in page 42 In the versos compueslos de dimetros i monometros, the trimetro iambico, the tetrametro iambico, and even in the verso de arte mayor as presented in the illustrations.
