Common metre or common measure is a
quatrain (four lines) that rhymes ABAB and alternates four-stress and three-stress iambic lines. It is the meter of the
hymn and the
ballad:
excerpt from the hymn "Amazing Grace" by John Newton
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see....
Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems are written in common measure, including [It was not death, for I stood up]:
excerpt from "It was not Death, for I stood up" by Emily Dickinson
It was not death, for I stood up,
And all the dead lie down.
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues for noon.
It was not frost, for on my flesh
I felt siroccos crawl,
Nor fire, for just my marble feet
Could keep a chancel cool.
And yet it tasted like them all,
The figures I have seen
Set orderly for burial
Reminded me of mine....
See also
Poulter’s measure and
fourteener.
Common measure
Linear Mode
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