{{Short description|"Verso de arte mayor" info}} '''Verso de arte mayor''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for 'verse of higher art', or in short 'arte mayor') refers to a multiform verse that appeared in [[Spanish Literature|Spanish poetry]] from the 14th century and has 9 or more syllables. The term 'verso de arte mayor' is also used for the 'pie de arte mayor', which is a verse composed of two [[Hemistich|hemistiches]], each of which has a rhythmic accent at the beginning and the end, separated by two unstressed syllables.
Originally, it was - in contrast to the shorter 'verso de arte menor' (Spanish for 'verse of lower art') – a long verse of eight to 16 [[syllable]]s, which later developed into a regular 12-syllable verse with four stressed syllables and a medial [[caesura]].
The verso de arte mayor came to maturity in the 15th century with [[Juan de Mena]]’s didactical-allegorically epic poem “[[Laberinto de Fortuna]]” (1444). The [[couplet]]s of this poem, the so-called “Octavas de Juan de Mena”, consisted each of eight arte mayor verses. In the 16th century, the verso de arte mayor gave way to the Italianate [[hendecasyllable]].<ref>Stephen Cushman, Clare Cavanagh, Jahan Ramazani, Paul Rouzer (eds.). ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics''; 4th ed. Princeton, 2012, p. 86.</ref>
== Literature== * Julio Saavedra Molina:'' El verso de arte mayor.'' Santiago de Chile 1946 * Martin J. Duffell:'' Modern metrical theory and the verso de arte mayor.'' London, 1999. {{ISBN|0-904188-41-8}} * Stephen Cushman, Clare Cavanagh, Jahan Ramazani, Paul Rouzer (ed.). "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition." Princeton, 2012.
==References== {{Reflist}}
[[Category:14th century in Spain]] [[Category:Spanish poetry]]