Common meter

Common meter, also called ballad meter, is a four-line stanza whose lines alternate between four beats and three beats, usually rhyming on the second and fourth lines.

The hymn "Amazing Grace" is written in common meter, with eight, six, eight and six syllables to the stanza.

I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

John Newton, 1779

The first lines of that stanza run "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, / That saved a wretch like me!"

What it is

A common meter stanza is a quatrain in alternating tetrameter and trimeter, usually rhymed ABCB. When the same pattern is used for a story, it is called ballad meter.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

Common meter is easy to hear, so it is easy to write badly. A sing-song feel is the usual risk. The fix is to vary the vocabulary and let a sentence run over a line break now and then.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called common meter?

Because it was the common stanza of English hymns, with lines of eight and six syllables that people could sing to many tunes.