Vital aliènto | dĕ lă màdrĕ Vènus.
Every sapphic is a good heroic hendecasyllable, but not all heroic hendecasyllables are good sapphics, since the latter are heroics subjected to certain conditions.
Adonic verse.—This is a five-syllabled (pentasyllabic) line of dactyls, in which it is required that the first and fourth syllables be accented, and that the second and third be short; cf. [p. 177]:
Céfĭrŏ blàndo.
Dìlĕ quĕ muèro.
It is really the first hemistich of a sapphic, and in strophic arrangement the two are always associated; cf. the ode of Villegas, [p. 177]. The strict laws of the sapphic and adonic are sometimes infringed.
III. Rhyme.—There are two kinds of rhyme; consonantal rhyme, in which both the consonants and the vowels agree (donde—responde), and assonance, in which the vowels alone agree and the consonants are disregarded (muero—puerto). In consonantal rhyme both the consonants and the vowels should agree exactly: sabio—labio, orgánica—botánica. Still, as b and v represent the same sound, they may rhyme together, acaba—esclava, recibo—cautivo.
A word should not form consonantal rhyme with itself; although, at times, a simplex is found rhyming with a derivative (precio—menosprecio) or two derivatives rhyme with each other (menosprecio—desprecio). Similar suffixes (verbal, substantival, adjectival, etc., -aba, -eza, -oso) should not rhyme together any more than can possibly be avoided. Adverbs in mente should not rhyme together. Words similar in sound and form, but distinct in sense, may rhyme: ama (“mistress”) and ama (“he loves”).
A series of assonances is offensive in verses having consonantal rhyme, as that in e—o in these four verses of Garcilaso:
El más seguro tema con recelo