Décima

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Décima is a style of poetry that is octosyllabic and has 10 lines.

The rhyming scheme is ABBAACCDDC. It is spoken, sung and written throughout Latin America with variations in different countries. It is often improvised.

A person who writes or improvises décima is known as a decimista.

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Actual Meaning

The décima is a form of folk song especially popular in New Mexico, where it flourished during the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth centuries. It was one of the most popular song forms in fifteenth-century Spain and has had a very strong presence in Mexico and Latin America, where it is still commonly heard. A décima refers to a ten-line stanza of poetry, and the song form generally consists of forty-four lines (an introductory four-verse stanza followed by four ten-line stanzas). The décima deals with a wide range of subject matter, including themes that are philosophical, religious, lyrical, and political. Humorous décimas typically would satirize an individual's weakness or foolish act. A décimero would frequently challenge the target of the satire or his/her defender to respond in kind with a décima, thereby setting up a song duel that tested the originality and wit of contending composers. Taken from Chicano Popular Culture, Que Hable el Pueblo, written by Charles M. Tatum.

External links

• Décima Poem Lesson
• The Puerto Rican Décima
• Décima's Iberian genesis

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Last updated on Friday March 07, 2008 at 14:35:42 PST (GMT -0800)
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