Practice question · Multiple choice
Why does the four-syllable "broken foot" carry so much weight in Manrique’s stanza?
Hints
- Ask what the ear expects after two full-length lines.
- The expectation of another eight syllables is broken by four.
Show the answer
C. It arrives short, like a step missed, so a statement landing there is isolated
Why
Because the ear has settled into eight syllables and gets four. The stanza opens a gap and Manrique drops his definitions into it: que es el morir, which is dying. The form does the emphasis, so the language does not have to raise its voice.
Practise Poetic Traditions I: the Medieval and Renaissance Lyric
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Literature I is free to start.
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