Pareado / Cosanta

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Spanish Verse
The Pareado (Spanish-paired) is a distich originating in Galician-Portuguese, 12th century, Spain. It is simply a didactic rhymed couplet often used for proverbs or epigrams. It can also be used as a two line chorus called a Cosanta which follows other narrative couplets.

The elements of the Pareado / Cosanta are:

1. a single distich, a poem in 2 lines.
2. syllabic, often the same length at the discretion of the poet.
3. rhymed, the rhyme can be consonant rhyme which in Spanish prosody is full rhyme or the rhyme can be assonant rhyme.
4. When used as a chorus, the Cosanta, the syllable count and rhyme should be different from the couplets that develop the subject, the Cosanta or chorus acts as feedback to the unfolding narrative.

   Little strokes,
   Fell great oaks.
               ---- Benjamin Franklin
   (I don't really think Benjamin Franklin deliberately composed these two lines as a Pareado but, dumb luck, it fits the frame description.)