A metrical pattern for hymns in which the stanzas have four lines containing eight and six syllables alternately.
普通格律，普通韵律（赞美诗的韵律，一节有四行，包含交替的八和六音节）
Example sentencesExamples
The Psalms of King David paraphrased and turned into English verse according to the common metre as they are usually sung in parish-churches
They used Rouse's metrical version, in which all the psalms are rendered in common metre, except the one hundredth which is long metre.
And even Psalm 136, the one Psalm not in common metre, can be sung to any common metre tune, as it adds only one extra syllable to the end of ever second line.
Shakespeare referred to common meter in Midsummer Night's Dream as ‘eight-and-six,’ which is a description of the number of syllables in the odd and even lines.
He also briefly relates the poem's metre to the hymn tradition, deciding that it mimics the standard common metre.