MAJOR VERSE IN POETRY: CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2025

A major verse in poetry is a line of text that contains at least nine metric syllables and is part of a poetic stanza. This can be rhymed, which makes it pair with other verses within the poem; or it can also be loose, which is common in prose.

The major verse in poetry has been widely popularized thanks to the sonnet, a poetic composition of great worldwide recognition that requires hendecasyllable verses for its stanzas to be elaborated. This poetic form consists of two quartets and two triplets of major art.

Major verse in poetry, examples. Source: lifeder.com.

Among the most used poetic forms that apply the use of verses of major art, the couplet, the triplet, the quartet, the serventesio, the quintet, the sixth rhyme, the royal eighth, the aforementioned sonnet, the heroic romance and the muse stand out.. All these possessors of consonant rhymes. However, major art verse is also popular in prose.

Major verse characteristics

The verses of major art in poetry have the following characteristics:

A minimum of 9 syllables

The length of the major art verses must exceed 9 syllables. If you don't, then these are considered minor art.

Their names according to the syllables they have

The most common is that they reach 15 syllables, and the names that are given by their length are the following: 9 syllables are eneasyllables; of 10 syllables are decasyllables; of 11 syllables are hendecasyllables; 12 syllables are twelve syllables; of 13 syllables are tridecasyllables; of 14 syllables they are alejandrinos; of 15 syllables are pentadecasyllables.

Its uses

The verses of major art are used by both learned and popular poets. They are not exclusive to ancient poetic forms, such as triplets, quartets, or sonnets. In fact, these verses take a lot of force in the prose, where they enjoy great popularity.

The topics

The verses of major art in poetry are often used to address thoughtful and deep themes. This is due to the facilities provided by its extension regarding the application of rhetorical figures and other literary resources.

They are conditioned by the law of the final accent

As with the verses of minor art, the length of the verses of major art in poetry is conditioned by the type of word that is located at the end of them. If the last word is sharp, the verse is subtracted one syllable; if it is serious, it remains the same; and if it is esdrújula, a syllable is added to the total extension.

Examples

Below are examples of verses of major art in poetry in each of its most used extensions:

- 9 syllables (eneasyllables)

With hunger in tow (Juan Ortiz)

He walked with hunger on his back, led by dogs of the night, with the stigmata of life

and the guilt of man in the vein.

Who would have thought? Nobody

the truth is that everyone, everyone, the dark existence wounded us.

Explanation

Here is a stanza of seven single verses in syllables (9 syllables). If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: Se_an / da / ba / con / el / ham / bre_a / cues / tas. The "_" implies a synalepha.

Life goes and does not forgive (Juan Ortiz)

Life goes and does not forgive, when you least expect it

existence leaves us, leaves us lying, unanswered.

Understanding this does cost, one remains there, in the open, erased from the world and from time.

Explanation

Here is a seven-line stanza in eneasyllables (9 syllables) rhyming ABABB - -. There is consonance in all, except in the second one that presents assonance. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: un / o / que / da_here, _en / la_in / tem / pe / rie.

- 10 syllables (decasyllables)

The child above does not return (Juan Ortiz)

The child above does not come back

his departure was defining, his absence is very noticeable, And her mother will never understand

Tell me who will come and understand us?

it was not fair that he left like that, without saying goodbye, a goodbye, even, that corrodes and corrupts the soul here, the strongest snatch the calm,

no matter how hard he resisted.

Explanation

Presented here is a ten-line stanza of decasyllables (10 syllables) of rhyming consonant ABBAACCDDC. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: al / más / Fuer / te_a / rre / ba / ta / la / cal / ma.

- Of 11 syllables (hendecasyllables)

Born of the night and a strange sea (Juan Ortiz)

Born of the night and a strange sea, sheltered by the saline mist, I took the crystal clear water on the shore

and I made myself a ladder without steps.

I went into the dark in those years

when nobody believed in what was possible, and a finite light, almost unspeakable, crowned life with hard steps, it was useless to be one of the purest, everything was absurd, gray, and abhorrent.

Explanation

Here is presented a stanza of ten hendecasyllable lines (11 syllables) of rhyme ABBAACCDDC consonant with assonance in the first verse. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: co / ro / nó / la / vi / da / con / pa / sos / du / ros.

Hope of the poor, you do not arrive (Juan Ortiz)

Hope of the poor, you do not arrive, you left without having touched the light

to light the house of that Peter, of that José, of that María Paula;

you followed along, to the newspapers, to the white houses of prostitutes

with fine names and without memorials.

You left, hope, after the winged guide

of the black grim reaper and her boat on the run

hungry for those who were waiting for you, and Pedro, José and María Paula will come

to dine with her for never finding you, woman with a name that deludes and kills, or illusion with a name, or woman that overwhelms, the people were waiting for you, waiting for you, under the red signs of vile oz, and you were the hammer that fell there

for not having gone, and having forgotten us.

Explanation

Here is a stanza of eighteen hendecasyllable verses (11 syllables) loose. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: se / guis / te / de / lar / go, _a / los / pe / rió / di / cos.

- 12 syllables (twelve syllables)

The flower will know itself to the withered (Juan Ortiz)

The flower will know itself to the withered, and we believe that it dies, it falls apart, that becomes nothing between the slight nothing

from its ashes, volatile in the wind.

It rises among its remains, it looks at all, and understand what happened to the land of air

where did that divine space come from

that sings to the primeval dust its worth

and makes it geography in ocher spaces.

The flower went to know itself to the withered, and it does not return now or soon, it stays, It is useless to return to the short world.

Explanation

Here is presented a stanza of twelve twelve-syllable verses (12 syllables) loose. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: The / flower / se / fue_a / sa / ber / de / si_a / lo / mar / chi / to.

- Of 13 syllables (tridecasyllables)

Brevity of light in absent eyes (Juan Ortiz)

Brevity of light in absent eyes, You show up just enough to miss you

You show up to take yourself to death

Explanation

Here is presented a stanza of three tridecasyllabic verses (13 syllables) loose. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: te / pre / sen / tas / lo / jus / to / pa / ra_a / si_ex / tra / ñar / te.

- Of 14 syllables (Alexandrinos)

The cardón sticks its thorns out of the desert (Juan Ortiz)

The cardón pokes its thorns into the desert

to wound the air of white and green flesh, to shout that the root hurts in the ground, the air, the water, the inclement sun that approaches, because he did not ask to come with that mortal body, because before it was dune, a colossus of sand.

Explanation

Here is a stanza of six Alexandrian verses (14 syllables) loose. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: pa / ra / gri / tar / que / le / due / le / la / root / en / la / tierra / rra.

- 15 syllables (pentadecasyllables)

We arrived from some strange planet with a gray tone (Juan Ortiz)

We arrived from some strange gray planet, that's why this is not going well for us, it does not fit our ego, and we must reduce it at the most, to white ashes, so we will be at home and we will have to go.

Explanation

Here is presented a stanza of four pentadecasyllable verses (15 syllables) loose. If we separate each part into syllables applying the synalepha resource, we can verify that they comply with the metric. Example: y / de / be / mos / men / guar / lo_a / lo / su / mo, _a blan / cas / ce / ni / zas.

References

1. Example of verses of major art. (2012). (N / A): Example of. Recovered from: examplede.com.
2. Verse. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
3. Meaning of verse (2019). (N / A): Meanings. Recovered from: significados.com.
4. Verses of major art. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
5. Maza, M. (2018). What is major and minor art in poetry. (N / A): A Professor. Recovered from: unprofesor.com.