Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 31.djvu/300

290 the people. The décimas, all classes, are real poetry. The popular poets have often been under the influence of real poetic inspiration. One suspects in some cases semi-learned influences; but, even so, they are considered anonymous, have no known authors, and are in every respect the poetry of the people. These décimas deal with all phases of human life, and the ideas of the people are involved in them. In all Spanish countries, Spain and Spanish America, the popular poetic form, par excellence, is the copla or octosyllabic quatrain in assonance. The redondillas and cuartetas are developed from the older copla, and may be considered in the same class. In Porto Rico it is clear, from Dr. Mason's collection at least, that the popular octosyllabic copla has a worthy rival in the décimas (with the title of "aguinaldos" in the case of the hexasyllabic décimas, and also other cases). The folk-poetry of other Spanish countries known to me does not share this dual rivalry of poetic forms. Everywhere, to my knowledge, the copla holds undisputed sway, with the single apparent exception of Porto Rico. In New Mexico the décimas are well known, but are not abundant. They are all in octosyllabic metre, and deal, as a rule, only with love, adventure, and ballad material. Hexasyllabic décimas dealing with love and adventure and especially with biblical tradition, many being beautiful Christmas carols called "aguinaldos," all so abundant in the popular tradition of Porto Rico, are not well known in New Mexico. A close examination of all my published and unpublished New-Mexican Spanish folk-lore would not reveal all together more than a score of popular compositions of any kind in hexasyllabic verse. A comparison between the exact forms of New-Mexican, Porto-Rican, and other décimas, is given later in Part I of this article.

Since most of the décimas are evidently modern, or at least modern adaptations of old models, if any, and they are anonymous, this class of poetry is popular in all respects. The poetas or cantadores, as they are called, who compose and recite or sing them, are as a rule men of humble walks of life, who have no pretensions of any kind. I suspect, however, that in Porto Rico, and perhaps also in other countries, the décima is cultivated by more pretentious poets; and it is not unlikely that many of the compositions that have attracted our admiration and attention are the product of learned poets, who composed them for the people and abandoned them to their fate. A few of the décimas and so-called aguinaldos had the names of the composers in the manuscript copies; but since much of the material was signed by the