Quintilla

by S. L. P. Van der Veer

Summer 2006

The quintilla is a Spanish octosyllabic form, used in lyric poetry, song, and theater. One of the oldest Spanish forms, it is related to the redondilla and the décima. In 16 th-17 th century Spain, the quintilla was a popular form, along with the redondilla, seguidilla, and décima (a variation of the décima is the espinela). The quintilla continues to be one of the 4 most commonly used octosyllabic strophes in Castilian.

Historical Setting for the

Development of the Form

The octosyllabic line is documented in Spanish poetry as early as the 6 th century, a tradition later reinforced by 14 th century Occitan troubadours. By the 15 th century, the Spanish octosílabo was firmly established. For a time, it competed with the Italian hendecasyllable for prominence, but ultimately it became the national meter of Spain. The octosílabo is also called the romance or ballad meter because many of the medieval Spanish romances and epics, such as Poema del Cid (or El Cantar de mío Cid – the tale of El Cid, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), utilized it.

Located between Europe and Africa, the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and Andorra) was often invaded. Carthage held large portions in the 6 th century BC. Rome conquered the peninsula in the Second Punic War (219 BC), before defeating Carthage in the Third Punic War. Rome’s rule lasted approximately 700 years. When the empire began its fall in the 5 th century, the Germanic tribes began to invade—the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Alans, although the Vandals and Alans were subsequently driven out. The Visigoths invaded in 584, and ruled for 200 years, until the Muslims crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and took control of most of the peninsula. The ousted Gothic nobles took refuge in the unconquered northern kingdoms, initiating the “Reconquista,” or “Reconquest,” of the peninsula by the Christian kingdoms, although it would take six centuries to see its completion.

Ferdinand II of Aragon wed Isabella of Castile in 1469, uniting those two kingdoms. The marriage marked the beginning of the peninsula’s unification, and a series of strategic marital alliances throughout Europe (which would lead to the Hapsburg empire of Charles V). Twenty-three years later, in 1492, they conquered Granada (the last Moorish stronghold, between Castile and Andalusia) in a military action, and the Muslim leader of Andalusia signed over governorship of the province. The unification of most of the peninsula – Portugal and the small kingdom of Andorra in the north remained independent – combined with the financing of what became a profitable voyage of a certain explorer in search of new lands to begin Spain’s “Golden Age.”

Modern-day Spain is comprised of 17 autonomous regions, which correspond to the individual kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula before the unification. Prominent among them were Navarre and Aragon to the north and east (bordering France), Galicia and Portugal to the west, Andalusia to the sound, and Castile in the center. Language varied by kingdom. The language of Castile (Castilian) became the language of the unified kingdoms, and is the language commonly called “Spanish.” The popularity of the Catalan (Valencian) of the eastern kingdoms and the Galician (or Galician-Portuguese) waned for a time in literary usage, but rose again after the Romantic Movement.

Form Specifics

Also see the sidebar: When 8 Syllables Aren't 8 Syllables

The quintilla is an octosyllabic quintet, similar to the ballad form but limited to only two rhymes. Only two consecutive lines may have the same rhyme scheme, and it cannot end in a couplet. This gives the following as possible rhyme schemes: ababa (the most common), abbab, abaab, aabab, or aabba (infrequent, and omitted in many descriptions of the quintilla). Typically in independent quintillas, opening with a couplet is avoided, but it will frequently appear in the second half of a décima (a 10-line form rhyming abba [pause] accddc). In Fiesta de Toros en Madrid, de Moratín uses 4 of the 5 possible rhyme schemes (the poem is 72 stanzas long).

The form was at one time considered a type of redondilla, an octosyllabic quatrain with two rhymes ( abba). Some consider the décima to be a double quintilla (“quintilla doble”), or conversely, that the quintilla is a half-décima.

The Meeting

by S. L. P. Van der Veer

 

Sunlight on the water glinted.

Ripples flowed to where she waited,

ever patient, her breath bated.

‘Soon,’ the little wavelets hinted,

as she’d long anticipated.

 

Moments passed. Larger waves reached shore,

urgent as a summer storm.

In the shallows, a shadowed form

that, just as in the tales of yore,

she watched from seal to man transform.

 

Then from the water he arose—

she flew to him, her heart’s delight.

He swept her up and held her tight.

Around the two, Time itself froze,

their love magic, the moon full-bright.

 

Too soon the light of day’s first sun,

too soon the moonlight ceased to be—

the lovers part reluctantly.

With one last kiss ere night is done,

he shifted and slipped back to sea.

References

Quintains page on The Poets Garrett : www.thepoetsgarrett.com/quintet.html

Spanish Metrification : http://faculty-staff.ov.edu/L/A-Robert.R.Lauer-1/metrification.html

Spanish Versification : http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/poesia/sylcount.htm

Spanish History : www.sispain.org/english/history/

Examples

de Moratín, Nicolás Fernández. “Fiesta de Toros en Madrid” (in Spanish): http://www.poesia-inter.net/nfm001.htm

Haag, Jan: http://janhaag.com/PODes001-33.html#quintilla1

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