# Common meter checker

Shape a four-line draft against 8 · 6 · 8 · 6 rising iambs. Same syllable and stress engine as the lyriic poetry editor — private in your browser.

## A short history

Common metre (or common measure, often abbreviated CM) is a four-line stanza that alternates iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter — eight syllables, then six, repeated. The pattern grew out of English and Scottish ballad and psalm traditions and became a default stanza in Protestant hymnody from the sixteenth century onward.

Because so many hymns and folk tunes share the same 8.6.8.6 grid, lyrics can often be sung interchangeably across melodies. Closely related forms include ballad metre (same line lengths, looser stress and usually ABCB rhyme) and long or short metre hymn stanzas (8.8.8.8 or 6.6.8.6).

## Famous poems

### Amazing Grace — John Newton

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, / That saved a wretch like me!

Classic CM hymn stanza; often used as a teaching example of 8.6.8.6.

### A slumber did my spirit seal — William Wordsworth

A slumber did my spirit seal; / I had no human fears:

One of the Lucy poems; a short common-meter lyric.

### Because I could not stop for Death — Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –

Dickinson often writes near common or ballad meter; stress and rhyme can loosen.

### O Little Town of Bethlehem — Phillips Brooks

O little town of Bethlehem, / How still we see thee lie!

Christmas carol frequently cited for common-metre hymn shape.

## Common meter (8 · 6)

Common meter alternates an eight-syllable iambic line with a six-syllable one: four da-DUM feet, then three. Across a quatrain the cycle reads 8 · 6 · 8 · 6 (often labeled CM or 86.86 in hymnals).

It is the shared grid of many English hymns and ballads. Strict common measure usually aims for ABAB rhyme; ballad stanza often uses ABCB with freer stress. lyriic checks the syllable and iambic stress cycle only — rhyme and tune are left to you.

When stress-aware checking is on, lyriic marks the expected weak–strong contour from dictionary stress so you can see where a draft matches or drifts from the ideal grid.

## Iamb (da-DUM)

An iamb is a two-syllable foot with a light beat then a strong one: da-DUM. Everyday words such as “today,” “because,” and “away” often fall into that shape.

Stack iambs and you get iambic meter. Three feet make trimeter (six syllables), four make tetrameter (eight), five make pentameter (ten)—the backbone of blank verse, sonnets, and much English lyric.

When stress-aware checking is on, lyriic marks the expected weak–strong pairs from dictionary stress and compares them to the meter’s contour. Real speech bends the ideal; the marks show the target pattern, not a claim that every poem must be perfectly regular.

## Iambic stress pattern (8 / 6)

Common meter alternates an eight-syllable iambic line with a six-syllable one. The long line has strong beats on 2, 4, 6, and 8; the short line on 2, 4, and 6.

When the stress pack is loaded, lyriic checks that 8 / 6 iambic contour line by line through the ballad or hymn cycle.

## Notes on this form

lyriic cycles an 8 / 6 iambic pattern across a four-line stanza: long lines target eight syllables with strong beats on 2, 4, 6, and 8; short lines target six with strong beats on 2, 4, and 6. Real hymns and ballads often admit substitutions — mismatches are feedback, not a claim that every published line is perfectly regular.

lyriic does not enforce rhyme schemes (ABAB common measure vs ABCB ballad stanza) or tune matching between hymn texts.

## Common questions

### What is common meter?

Common meter (CM) is a quatrain that alternates eight- and six-syllable iambic lines — tetrameter then trimeter, usually written 8.6.8.6. It is the meter of many hymns and ballads; ballad meter shares the lengths but is often less strictly iambic and typically rhymes ABCB rather than ABAB.

### Does lyriic check stress as well as syllables?

Yes. With the stress pack loaded, the checker compares dictionary stress to the expected 8 / 6 iambic contour alongside the syllable targets. Open the Common meter writer under Meter for the same rulers while you draft.

### Is my draft uploaded?

No. Syllable and stress checks run locally in your browser. lyriic is local-first and does not require an account.

## Open the editor

Write in the zen editor: https://lyriic.com/

Open with Common meter meter: https://lyriic.com/write/common-meter