A regular verse has the same number of syllables in each verse, respecting the rhyme.
A regular verse is one that exhibits the same number of syllables in each verse , respecting the rhyme . This means that, if we analyze the stanza of a poem that has four verses, and the four verses are made up of twelve syllables, they are regular verses.
It should be noted that verse is the set of words that are subject to a certain measure and that maintain a cadence. The verses constitute the first ordered unit of the poems . Regular , on the other hand, is that which adjusts to the rules or that is measured.
Examples of regular verses
Let's see examples of regular verses:
"I'm not afraid of loneliness"
I like solitude
I hope to live in solitude
Yes, I really want that.
As can be seen in this example , the stanza is composed of four lines ( «I am not afraid of loneliness / I like loneliness / I hope to live in solitude / Yes, I really want that» ). Each of the lines, on the other hand, is made up of nine syllables. Thus, we can affirm that the stanza in question is made up of regular lines.
It is important to establish and be clear that regular verses are such if they meet the characteristics that we have set out, regardless of whether they belong to what is known as major art or minor art .
Another example that we can use to understand what regular verse is is the following. It belongs to the work entitled "I looked at the walls of my homeland" , which is a sonnet by the great writer of the Spanish Golden Age Francisco de Quevedo . Specifically, it is the first quartet of the same and allows us to realize that all the verses that form it are hendecasyllables and also have assonant rhyme :
"I looked at the walls of my homeland,
if once strong, now crumbling,
tired of the race of age,
for those whose courage is already running out."
However, there are many examples of great authors to help us understand the type of versification we are dealing with. Thus, we can also find it in the poem by San Juan de la Cruz entitled "Noche oscura" (Dark Night) .
Many works of poetry are based on regular verse.
Another type of versification
The case of irregular verses is different, as they have a different number of syllables . The stanza "I feel like I am a bird / Fast, free / Able to reach the sky / With the one who loves me" has verses with different numbers of syllables: they are, therefore, irregular verses.
This type of versification, as we have mentioned, is absolutely free both in terms of the number of metric syllables and the type of rhyme. In addition to the one already mentioned, we can use as an example part of the poem entitled «Vino, primero, pura» (Wine, first, pure) by the writer from Huelva and Nobel Prize winner for Literature ( 1956 ) Juan Ramón Jiménez :
«And he took off his tunic,
and she appeared completely naked…
Oh, passion of my life, poetry
naked, mine forever."
Regular verses, in short, allow the development of the so-called regular versification , which is composed of equal rhythmic units. As we have already seen, the case of irregular versification is different.