The ''copla'' is a
poetic form
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
of four verses found in many
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
popular songs as well as in
Spanish language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
literature. There is a
related musical genre of the same name. The form is also found widely in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
. The name derives from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
''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
The seguidilla (; ; plural in both English and Spanish ''seguidillas''; diminutive of ''seguida'', which means "sequence" and is the name of a dance). Accessed May 2008. is an old Castilian folksong and dance form in quick triple time for two peo ...
(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
Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won nume ...
,
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominen ...
,
Antonio Machado
Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...
,
Jorge Manrique
Jorge Manrique (c. 1440 – 24 April 1479) was a major Castilian poet, whose main work, the ''Coplas por la muerte de su padre (Verses on the death of Don Rodrigo Manrique, his Father)'', is still read today. He was a supporter of the queen ...
and
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
.
Manuel Machado wrote of ''coplas'', using the form himself:
{{Verse translation, lang=es,
Hasta que el pueblo las canta,
las coplas, coplas no son,
y cuando las canta el pueblo
ya nadie sabe el autor.
Tal es la gloria, Guillén,
de los que escriben cantares:
oír decir a la gente
que no los ha escrito nadie.
Procura tú que tus coplas
vayan al pueblo a parar,
aunque dejen de ser tuyas
para ser de los demás.
Que, al fundir el corazón
en el alma popular,
lo que se pierde de nombre
se gana de eternidad.
,
Until the folk sings them
''coplas'' are not ''coplas'',
and when the folk sing them
By then, no one knows who wrote them.
Such is the glory, Guillén,
Of those who write songs:
To hear the folk say
That no one wrote these.
Try to make it that your songs
go among the folk to stick around,
although they cease to be yours
to belong to the others.
Which, to melt the heart
in the soul of the folk,
that which it loses of a name
it gains of eternity.
The language of the ''copla'' is colloquial and direct, although there may also be ''
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially a ...
s'', especially for comic or lascivious effect.
Spanish poetry
Poetic forms