A hymn metre indicates the number of syllables for the lines in each stanza of a hymn. This provides a means of marrying the hymn's text with an appropriate hymn tune for singing.
In the English languagepoetic metres and hymn metres have different starting points but there is nevertheless much overlap. Take the opening lines of the hymn Amazing Grace: Analyzing this, a poet would see a couplet with four iambicmetrical feet in the first line and three in the second. A musician would more likely count eight syllables in the first line and six in the second. Completing that verse: the hymnist describes it as 8.6.8.6. The words of Amazing Grace can therefore be set to any tune that has the 8.6.8.6 metre, for example The House of the Rising Sun. Conventionally most hymns in this 86.86 pattern are iambic. By contrast most hymns in an 87.87 pattern are trochaic, with strong-weak syllable pairs: In practice many hymns conform to one of a relatively small number of metres, and within the most commonly used ones there is a general convention as to whether its stress pattern is iambic or trochaic. It is rare to find any significant metrical substitution in a well-written hymn; indeed, such variation usually indicates a poorly constructed text.
Terminology and abbreviations
Most hymnals include a metrical index of the book's tunes. A hymn may be sung to any tune in the same meter, as long as the poetic foot also conforms. All metres can be represented numerically, for example "Abide With Me" which is 10.10.10.10. Some of the most frequently encountered however are instead referred to by names:
C.M., or CM— Common metre, 8.6.8.6; a quatrain with alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, which rhymes in the second and fourth lines and sometimes in the first and third.
L.M., or LM— Long metre, 8.8.8.8; a quatrain in iambic tetrameter, which rhymes in the second and fourth lines and often in the first and third.
S.M., or SM— Short metre, 6.6.8.6; iambic lines in the first, second, and fourth are in trimeter, and the third in tetrameter, which rhymes in the second and fourth lines and sometimes in the first and third. "Blest Be the Tie that Binds" is an example of a hymn in short metre.
Two verses may be joined together or doubled, especially if the tune requires it:
D.C.M. —Doubled CM, 8.6.8.6.8.6.8.6.
8.7.8.7.D—equivalent to two verses of 8.7.8.7., either trochaic or Iambic.
A few hymns have an inconsistent metrical pattern across their verses. Such a metre is described as '"irregular"; one well-known example is O Come, All Ye Faithful.
Local and historic variation
While the terminology above enjoys widespread agreement across the English-speaking world, there is some regional variation. Even within a region there may be historical variation and development. For example some terminology used in USA publications but not in the UK includes:
P.M. or PM— Peculiar meter; for rare or one-of-a-kind meters in a hymnal.
H.M., or HM— Hallelujah meter may sometimes be used in reference to 66.66.88,
