SYLLABICATION
In most modern Spanish verse there is a fixed number of syllables in a line up to and including the last stressed syllable.[13] In counting these syllables consideration must be given to the following facts:
Footnote 13:[ (return) ]
The number of unstressed syllables at the end of a line is not fixed. See p. lvi.
In order to have the correct number of syllables, poets sometimes (1) shorten a word or (2) shift the accent:
(1) ¿Ya qué mi puro espirtu sucias carnes...
(Cabanyes, Á Cintio)
(2) Puede querer...? Abralé...
(Zorrilla, Don Juan Tenorio, primera parte, III, 6)
Deben de ser angeles.
(Lope de Vega, El mejor alcalde el rey, II)
Note the artificial separation of lines in some dramatic romance-verse:
... Soy un cate-
Cúmeno muy diligente.
(Calderón, El José de las mujeres, II)
De una vil hermana, de un
Falso amigo, de un infame
Criado...
(Calderón, No hay burlas con el amor, III)
(1) SYNERESIS
Within a word two or three contiguous vowels usually combine to form a diphthong or a triphthong respectively (this is called "syneresis"): bai|le, rey, oi|go, ciu|dad, cui|da|do, es|tu|diar, es|tu|diáis, dien|te, lim|pio, gra|cio|so, muy, bien, pue|de, buey, etc. Exceptions:
(a) A stressed "weak" vowel (i, u) may not combine with a "strong" vowel (a, e, o) to form a diphthong: dí|a, rí|e, frí|o, ra|íz, le|í|do, o|í|do, con|ti|nú|a, con|ti|nú|e, con|ti|nú|o, ba|úl, sa|bí|a, sa|brí|ais, ca|í|ais, etc.[14]
Footnote 14:[ (return) ] Note that in these combinations the weak vowel receives the accent mark. Some Spanish-American poets have sinned grievously, by reason of their local pronunciation, in diphthongizing a strong vowel with a following stressed weak vowel, as maiz, a|taud, oi|do, for ma|íz, a|ta|úd, o|í|do, respectively, etc.
Exceptions are rare:
Su|pe | que | se|ría | di|cho|so |