What is roundel?
Redundilha is a poetic resource that establishes verses of five or seven poetic syllables. Verses that have five poetic syllables are called minor rounds, whereas those that have seven syllables are larger rounds.
This feature was widely used in Troubadourism, for the production of Medieval Songs and in the Humanism, greatly influencing the production of Vincentian theater.
See some examples of rounds present in the work Os Lusíadas, by Luiz Vaz de Camões:
CVI
Trovas the captive woman I was in love with in India, called barbara
Wherever you went,
that / have / have / you / you,
why/ne/it/I saw/you
already/ no/ wants/ that/ saw/ see.
I never saw pink
in smooth sauces,
that for my eyes
would be more beautiful.
Not in the flowers field,
not even stars in the sky,
they look beautiful to me
like my loves.
singular face,
peaceful eyes,
black and tired,
but not to kill.
my living grace,
that lives in them,
to be lady
of who is captive.
Black hair,
where the people go
lose opinion
that laurels are beautiful.
Pretitude of Love,
so sweet the figure,
that snow swears to you
that changed the color.
Leda meekness
that the wisdom accompanies;
well it looks strange,
but not barbarian.
serene presence
that the storm tames;
it finally rests
all my pity.
this is the captive
that has me captive,
and because I live in it,
it is the force that lives.
In this poem, Camões uses verses composed of five syllables, characterizing them as smaller rounds.
- See the marking of the seven poetic syllables.
XXXVIII
Gloss to this alien motorcycle:
Without/you/and/with/my/take care of/the
o/lhai/ with/ who/, and/ without/ who/.
A/mor/, cu/ja/ pro/vi/den/cia
it was/ without/ before/ that/ no/ and/ s/he,
because/that/n'al/ma/you/le/va/sse,
res/pei/tan/do o/mal/ de au/sen/cia
wanted/ that in/ you/ me/ trans/for/ma/sse.
And seeing me go battered,
me and my care alone,
came from it, from an attack,
for not being absent from you,
without you and with my care.
But this soul I brought
because you are moral in it,
it leaves me blind, and without a guide;
that there is for greater company
stay where you stay.
So I'm off my baby
wherever the strong star,
soulless, which has you,
I'm sick of living without her:
look with whom, and without what
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
In this other, the poet uses verses composed of seven poetic syllables, characterizing them as larger rounds.
STAY TUNED! Poetic or metric syllables are not the same as grammatical syllables. In order to measure the verse, it is necessary to pay attention to the following rules:
counting is performed only to the last stressed syllable of the last word of each verse;
counting is restarted on each verse;
scores are not considered;
if a word ends in an unstressed vowel and the next word starts with an unstressed vowel as well, the joining of these two syllables will represent only one meter syllable;
gaps can turn into diphthongs or vice versa;
when a syllable ends in M and the next in a vowel, the consonant may disappear.
See an example of the difference between poetic syllables and grammatical syllables in Camões' verses:
Love is fire that burns without being seen.
it's a wound that hurts and doesn't feel
We have the first verse with eleven grammatical syllables, but only ten poetic syllables, and the second verse with twelve grammatical syllables, but also ten poetic syllables, that is, they are ten-syllable verses.
By Mariana Rigonatto
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RIGONATTO, Mariana. "What is roundabout?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-e-redondilha.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
