common metre

British  

noun

1. a stanza form, used esp for hymns, consisting of four lines, two of eight syllables alternating with two of six

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

common metre

Yet, by these presents, witness all,     She's welcome fifty times,   And comes consigned to Hope and Love     And common metre rhymes.

From Mother Carey's Chickens by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith

These thirty-seven tunes, all of which but one were in common metre, were bound often with "The Bay Psalm-Book."

From Sabbath in Puritan New England by Earle, Alice Morse

Ballads are more frequently written in common metre lines of eight and six syllables alternating.

From The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2 by Various

Another very common metre in the Dramas consists of stanzas of eight lines of seven syllables, rhyming alternately. 

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Jenner, Henry

Mother Carey played the dear old common metre tune, and the voices rang out in Whittier's hymn.

From Mother Carey's Chickens by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith