cantar

/kan tahr"/, n. Pros.

a poem consisting of four-line stanzas, each line having eight syllables.

[ < Sp: song, poem (n. use of v. inf.) < L cantare to sing]

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▪ Spanish literature

      in Spanish literature, originally, the lyrics of a song. The word was later used for a number of different poetic forms. In modern times it has been used specifically for an octosyllabic quatrain in which assonance occurs in the even-numbered lines and the odd-numbered lines are unrhymed with the accent falling on the last syllable.

      The cantar de gesta was a medieval narrative epic poem similar to the French chanson de geste though with somewhat longer lines arranged in irregular stanzas, each based on a single recurring rhyme. The Cantar de Mio Cid is the most famous example. Another variant, the cantar de pandeiro, is a Galician folk song arranged in three-line stanzas.

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