Copla (poetry)
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Find sources: "Copla" poetry – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( May 2010 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) |
The copla is a poetic form of four verses found in many Spanish popular songs as well as in Spanish language literature. There is a related musical genre of the same name . The form is also found widely in Latin America . The name derives from the Latin copula , ("link" or "union").
Coplas normally consist of four verses de arte menor (that is, of no more than eight syllables to a line) of four lines each, either of Spain's most characteristic popular meter, the romance (8- 8a 8- 8a), or of seguidilla (7- 5a 7- 5a) or redondilla (8a 8b 8b 8a).
Although most commonly considered a popular form, it has not been scorned by cultivated writers. Among those who have written coplas are Íñigo López de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana , Rafael Alberti , Luis de Góngora , Antonio Machado , Jorge Manrique and Federico García Lorca . Manuel Machado wrote of coplas , using the form himself:
Hasta que el pueblo las canta,
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Until the folk sings them
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The language of the copla is colloquial and direct, although there may also be double entendres , especially for comic or lascivious effect.