The basis for the following remarks on Spanish prosody is, for the
most part, E. Benot's _Prosodia Castellana y Versification_, 3 vols.,
Madrid, 1892. Other works which have been consulted are the _Ortologia
y Arte Metrica_ of A. Bello, published in his _Obras Completas_, vol.
4, Madrid, 1890; Rengifo's _Arte Poètica Española_, Barcelona, 1759;
J. D. M. Ford's "Notes on Spanish Prosody," in _A Spanish Anthology_,
published by Silver, Burdett & Co., 1901; and a _Tratado de Literatura
Preceptiva_, by D. Saturnino Milego é Inglada, published at Toledo in
1887.
Spanish versification has nothing to do with the quantity of vowels
(whether long or short), which was the basis of Latin prosody.
There are four important elements in Spanish versification. Of these
four elements two are essential, and the other two are usually
present.
The essential elements, without which Spanish verse cannot exist,
are--