DECIMA

 

Decima

WHAT IS DECIMA?

A Decima is a ten-line stanza of poetry, and the song form generally consists of forty-four lines (an introductory four-line stanza followed by four ten-line stanzas). It is also called "espinela" after its founder, Vicente Espinel (1550–1624), a Spanish writer and musician of the Siglo de Oro. In simple words, it has 10 lines with 8- syllables per line in a rhyme pattern.

TIPS TO WRITE A DECIMA?

Writing a decima can be easy at the same time tough. Some of the points you have to keep in mind while writing one is-

• Your decima can be based on any topic, may it be religious political, philosophical, historical, or dramatic.

• The rhyme pattern goes like- abbaaccddc. There can also be pauses after even verses like- abba/accddc.

• There are many types of decima. The rhyme pattern mentioned above is a Puerto Rican Decima.

• Decima is more fruitful if it is written in Spanish and gives more effect. Most likely because Decima was introduced in Spain.

• If a strong vowel (a,o,e) is combined with a weak vowel (i,u) in a word and stress is given to the weak vowel, an accent is placed over the weak vowel.

EXAMPLE OF DECIMA

DECIMA

~ George Santayana

Silent daisies out of reach,

Maidens of the starry grass,

Gazing on me as I pass

With a look too wise for speech,

Teach me resignation,--teach

Patience to the barren clod,

As above your happier sod,

Bending to the wind's caress,

You--unplucked, alas!--no less

Sweetly manifest the god.

NOTE- (None of the poems we present belong to us. We present an organized record and analysis of them. All copyrights are reserved for the original author and we are not using plagiarized work. The originality of writes is verified to the fullest extent we can.)

Over here the poem is written in English and not in Spanish, though you can translate it and see how is the effect much more sounding than in English. As you can see, there are 10 lines and each with 8 syllables in it. The poet has written in respective of nature and has used beautiful words to give out-turns.

OTHER USES OF DECIMA

As mentioned earlier Decima when inscribed in Spanish gives more emphasis, it also forms a song. It is a form of song in itself. Decima in itself is joyous, but it doesn’t mean that it cannot describe a difficult topic. Decima was well known during the Spanish Golden Age which was a period of immense culture and celebration. 

So grab a pen and paper and pen down your own Decima, NOW!

THANK YOU!!

-Shreya Mitra (a member of PoeTree FoRest)