In poetry, those poems that have a particular structure whose verses are eight syllables or less are classified within the minor art genre. In turn, within this classification there are many types of possible structures; the most popular is that of eight syllable verses. Within the eight-syllable verses is located the round that has stanzas made up of four verses of eight syllables each with ABBA- type consonant rhyme (the first verse rhymes with the fourth and the second with the third).
It is worth mentioning that an eight-syllable verse is not necessarily made up of the same number of grammatical syllables (the number it literally has). This is because the metric of a verse is measured by the number of definite sounds in a sentence and not by the number of spelled syllables.
It often happens that some people confuse the round with the quartet but both are clearly differentiated. Although the quartet also has a consonant rhyme of ABBA format, the number of syllables in each of its verses is greater than eight, generally hendecasyllable; in this case we will be facing a poem of major art.
One of the authors who made the term more popular was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, whose most famous poem is titled “Redondillas” and, as expected, it consists of a long poem with this structure. This poem begins with the verse “Foolish men who accuse…” and, due to this beginning, it is also usually titled “Foolish men who accuse women without reason” or simply “Foolish men” .
Among the best known examples of redondillas, it is also worth mentioning, in addition to the aforementioned poem by Juana Inés de la Cruz, "La copa de las hada", a well-known poem by Rubén Darío that went around the world and is still recited in the poetic realms.
In the context of typography, finally, the round is a round letter, which is highlighted by the circular and vertical lines. It can be a printed or handwritten letter. In general, it can be said that the round is a letter with a more rounded appearance and wider in size than ordinary letters.
History of the redondilla
It is considered that it was their great facility to be pronounced in public spaces that made them so popular. This made it an ideal structure for compositions such as minstrels. The great facility of our language to adapt to this type of rhyme, made them extremely effective for popular creations and even a new genre was created that received the name of profane redondillas, extremely popular also in the Golden Age. It reached popularity during the so-called Spanish Golden Age, in which important references of Castilian poetry emerged that made use of this type of poetry.
At this time it was used for the creation of verses and Christmas carols and also in the theater, where numerous works composed in verse arose. Later, during the neoclassical period, it began to lose popularity, due to the insertion of the hendecasyllable verse taken from Italian poetry, which gained unusual importance.
Finally, the romantic poets returned to the bases of the octosyllable verse, using the round to explore all the possibilities of this structure. The modernist poetry also relies on the redondilla; so much so that in this period there are numerous authors who cultivate it.