nd
_bendito_ assonate in i-o.

There are twenty possible assonances in Spanish: a, o, e, i, u, a-a,
a-e, a-o, e-a, e-e, e-o, o-a, o-e, o-o, i-a, i-e, i-o, u-a, u-e, u-o.

Words that have in the final unaccented syllable i or u, not in
diphthongs, are considered for purposes of assonance as if ending in e
or o respectively. Therefore, _facil_ and _nave_ assonate in a-e;
_espiritu_ and _liquido_, in i-o.

If ai occurs in a syllable after an a in the accented syllable, the i
rather than the a of the diphthong counts in the assonance. Therefore,
_cantares_ and _trocabais_ assonate in a-e. If the accented vowel is
not a, the a of ai counts in the assonance. Therefore, _Vicenta_ and
_quisierais_ assonate in e-a.

Consonantal rhyme should not be introduced in compositions written in
assonance. This rule is not always observed (see pp. 183-184, LIII).

The assonance of alternate lines (the even numbers) is the rule in
modern Spanish. If the composition is short the same assonance may be
kept throughout.

Blank Verse.--Verses which lack both consonantal rhyme and assonance
occur in Spanish, and are called _versos sueltos_ (or _libres_).
Compositions in blank verse are, however, extremely difficult to write
in Spanish, and are therefore comparatively rare.

STROPHES

The strophe is frequently of arbitrary length, yet when the poet has
once fixed the measure of his strophe he is supposed to preserve the
same measure throughout. The following are some of the strophic
arrangements in Spanish.

_Pareados_ are pairs of contiguous verses of the same number of
syllables, which rhyme[1] together in pairs.

[Footnote 1: By _rhyme_ hereafter shall be understood _consonantal_
rhyme, unless otherwise indicated.]

_Tercetos_ are a series of strophes, in the first of which the first
verse rhymes with the third, and, from the second strophe on, the
first and third verse of each successive strophe rhyme with the middle
verse of the preceding strophe. This form of verse is known in Italian
as _terza rima_. The composition ends with a _serventesio_ (see
below), of which the first and third verses rhyme with the middle
verse of the preceding strophe. The rhyme-scheme, then, would be a b
a, b c b, c d c, etc., d e d e.

_Cuartetas_, properly so called, are strophes of four eight-syllable
verses, of which the second verse rhymes (or is in assonance) with the
fourth. _Cuarteta_ is likewise a general name given to strophes of
fou