Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a

poetic metre In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...

consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The metre is denoted by the syllable count of each line, i.e. 8.6.8.6, 86.86, or 86 86, depending on style, or by its shorthand abbreviation "CM". Common metre has been used for

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s such as " Tam Lin" and

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

s such as "

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...

" and the

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

O Little Town of Bethlehem "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in The United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis ...

". The upshot of this commonality is that lyrics of one song can be sung to the tune of another; for example, "

Advance Australia Fair "Advance Australia Fair" is the national anthem of Australia. Written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, sung in Australia as a patriotic song. It first replaced " God Save the Queen" as th ...

", "

House of the Rising Sun A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

Pokémon Theme "Pokémon Theme" (also known as "Gotta catch ’em all!") is a song written by John Siegler and John Loeffler and performed by Jason Paige. It is the original theme song for the first season of the English adaptation of the ''Pokémon'' anime ...

and "Amazing Grace" can have their lyrics set to the tune of any of the others. Historically, lyrics were not always wedded to tunes and would therefore be sung to any fitting melody; "Amazing Grace", for instance, was not set to the tune "New Britain" (with which it is most commonly associated today) until fifty-six years after its initial publication in 1779.

Variants

Common metre is related to other poetic forms.

Ballad metre

Like common metre, ''

metre'' comprises couplets of tetrameter (four feet) and trimeter (three feet). However, the feet need not be iambs (with one unstressed and one stressed syllable): the number of unstressed syllables is variable. Ballad metre is "less regular and more conversational" than common metre. In each stanza, ballad form typically needs to rhyme only the second lines of the couplets, not the first, in the form ''A-B-C-B'' (where ''A'' and ''C'' need not rhyme), while common metre typically rhymes both the first lines and the second lines, in the pattern ''A-B-A-B''.

Fourteener

The ''fourteener'' is a metrical line of 14 syllables (usually seven iambic feet). Fourteeners typically occur in couplets. Fourteener couplets broken into quatrains (four-line stanzas) are equivalent to quatrains in common metre or ballad metre: instead of alternating lines of tetrameter and trimeter, a fourteener joins the tetrameter and trimeter lines to give seven feet per line. The fourteener gives the poet greater flexibility than common metre, in that its long lines invite the use of variably placed

caesura 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for " cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begin ...

s and

spondee A spondee (Latin: ) is a metrical foot consisting of two long syllables, as determined by syllable weight in classical meters, or two stressed syllables in modern meters. The word comes from the Greek , , ' libation'. Spondees in Ancient Gre ...

s to achieve metrical variety, in place of a fixed pattern of iambs and line breaks.

Common-metre double and particular

Another common adaptation of the common metre is the ''common-metre double'', which as the name suggests, is the common metre repeated twice in each stanza, or 8.6.8.6.8.6.8.6. Traditionally the rhyming scheme should also be double the common metre and be ''a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d'', but it often uses the ballad metre style, resulting in ''x-a-x-a-x-b-x-b''. Examples of this variant are "

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two neve ...

" and "

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", sometimes rendered as "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", is an 1849 poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. In 1850, Sears' lyrics were set ...

". Likewise related is the ''common particular metre'', 8.8.6.8.8.6., as in the tune ''Magdalen College'', composed in 1774 by William Hayes, which has been used with the hymn "We Sing of God, the Mighty Source", by

Christopher Smart Christopher Smart (11 April 1722 – 20 May 1771) was an English poet. He was a major contributor to two popular magazines, ''The Midwife'' and ''The Student'', and a friend to influential cultural icons like Samuel Johnson and Henry Fiel ...

Examples

Common metre is often used in

s, like this one by

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

's "Lucy Poems" are also in common metre. Many of the poems of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

use ballad metre. Another American poem in ballad metre is Ernest Thayer's "

Casey at the Bat Casey at the Bat is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. Casey at the Bat may also refer to: * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1916 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1927 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'', a ...

": A modern example of ballad metre is the theme song to ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'', infamously making it possible to sing any other ballad to that tune. The first two lines actually contain

anapaest An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consist ...

s in place of iambs. This is an example of a ballad metre which is metrically less strict than common metre. Another example is the folk song "

". "Gascoigns Good Night", by

George Gascoigne George Gascoigne (c. 15357 October 1577) was an English poet, soldier and unsuccessful courtier. He is considered the most important poet of the early Elizabethan era, following Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and leading to ...

, employs

fourteeners In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...

. "America the Beautiful" by

Katharine Lee Bates Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Bat ...

employs the common metre double, using a standard CM rhyme scheme for the first iteration, and a ballad metre scheme for the second. Likewise "

" by Peter Dodds McCormick,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

: The

song is also in common meter and people have produced videos with the Pokémon Theme instrumentals with the words of

poems.

References