ias del coraz=on=,
Deja el descanso, doncella p=ura=,
Y oye los ecos de mi canc=ion=!
(p. 199, ll. 1-6)

In a diphthong consisting of a strong and a weak vowel
the weak vowel may be disregarded in rime. Cf. above:
_prudencia, conciencia; corazon, cancion; igual, rival_.

(2) Or rimed verse may have "assonance," in which there
is rime of the last accented vowel and of any final vowel
that may follow in the line, but not of consonants.[22]

[Footnote 22: Assonance is rare in popular English verse,
but it occurs in some household rimes; e. g.:

Little Tommy Tucker,
He cried for his supper.
What shall little Tommy Tucker have for his supper?
Black-eyed beans and bread and butter.

Here the assonance is _u-er_ (final unstressed _-er_ in
standard present-day English represents vocalic _r_).]

Assonance of alternate lines is the usual rime of the
_romances_, as in:

Cabellos de mi cabeza
lleganme al corvej=o=n;
los cabellos de mi barba
por manteles tengo y=o=:
las unas de las mis manos
por cuchillo tajad=o=r.
(P. 7, ll. 15-20)

Here the assonance is _o_.
page lix
iAbenamar, Abenamar,
moro de la morer=ia=,
el dia que tu naciste
grandes senales hab=ia=!
Estaba la mar en calma,
la luna estaba crec=i=d=a=:
moro que en tal signo nace,
no debe decir ment=i=r=a=.
(P. 1, 11. 1-8)

Here the assonance is _i-a_.[23]

[Footnote 23: The _romances viejos_ were originally in
lines of approximately sixteen syllables, and every line
then had assonance.]

Del salon en el angulo obscuro,
De su dueno tal vez olvid=a=d=a=,
Silenciosa y cubierta de polvo
Veiase el =a=rp=a=.
iCuanta nota dormia en sus cuerdas,
Como el pajaro duerme en las r=a=m=a=s,
Esperando la mano de nieve
Que sabe arranc=a=rl=a=s!
(P. 122, ll. 12-19)

Here the assonance is _a-a_.

The following rules for assonance should be noted:

_(a)_ In modern Spanish a word stressed on the final
syllable may not assonate with one stressed on a syllable
preceding the final.[24]

[Footnote 24: In the old _romances_ and in the medieval
epic, _a_ could assonate with _a-a._ In singing these
old verses every line was probably made to end in an
unstressed vowel by adding paragogic _e_ to a final
stressed syllable. Thus, _son_ was sung as _sone, dar_ as
_dare, temi_ as _temie_, etc. Cf. Men. Pel., _Ant.