The Canción, Spanish meaning song, now generally refers to any 16th century Spanish isostrophic (strophic pattern repeated in subsequent strophes) poem with Italianate lines (verse using a combination of 7 and 11 syllable lines). It is the Spanish equivalent of the Italian Canzone. Verse forms that would be included in this genre are the Silva, the Lira and the Endecha. However the Canción, sometimes called the Petrarchan Canción, can be written in nonce verse and stand on its own.

The Canción or the Petrarchan Canción is:

1. isostrophic, written in any number of lines in a stanza or strophe although it is very often written in 13 line strophe, the pattern of which is fixed in each subsequent strophe.
2. syllabic, mixed lines of 7 and 11 syllables make up a stanza or strophe. L6 and L13 are ALWAYS 11 syllables. The pattern of line length of the first stanza, becomes a fixed pattern for subsequent stanzas. (Note: in Spanish prosody, a hexasyllabic line and a hendecasyllabic line both always have the primary accent or stress on the 6th syllable.)
3. rhymed, often the rhyme scheme begins abcabc . . . . . . .
4. often ended with a shorter strophe called an envío. A short summary.