Editing Metre (poetry) (section)

===Frequently used metres===
The most frequently encountered metre of English verse is the [[iambic pentameter]], in which the metrical norm is five iambic feet per line, though metrical substitution is common and rhythmic variations are practically inexhaustible. [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', most [[sonnet]]s, and much else besides in English are written in iambic pentameter. Lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter are commonly known as [[blank verse]].{{Sfn|Hollander|1981 |p=12}}  Blank verse in the English language is most famously represented in the plays of [[William Shakespeare]] and the great works of Milton, though [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]] (''[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]'', ''[[The Princess (Tennyson poem)|The Princess]]'') and [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]] (''[[The Prelude]]'') also make notable use of it.

A rhymed pair of lines of iambic pentameter make a [[heroic couplet]],{{Sfn|Hollander|1981 |p=15}} a [[list of verse forms|verse form]] which was used so often in the 18th century that it is now used mostly for humorous effect (although see ''[[Pale Fire]]'' for a non-trivial case). The most famous writers of heroic couplets are [[John Dryden|Dryden]] and [[Alexander Pope|Pope]].

Another important metre in English is the [[common metre]], also called the "ballad metre", which is a four-line stanza, with two pairs of a line of [[iambic tetrameter]] followed by a line of [[iambic trimeter]]; the [[rhyme]]s usually fall on the lines of trimeter, although in many instances the tetrameter also rhymes.  This is the metre of most of the Border and Scots or English ballads.  In [[hymn]]ody it is called the "common metre", as it is the most common of the named [[meter (hymn)|hymn metres]] used to pair many hymn lyrics with melodies, such as ''[[Amazing Grace]]'':<ref>The [[ballad metre]] commonality among a wide range of song lyrics allow words and music to be interchanged seamlessly between various songs, such as "[[Amazing Grace]]", the "Ballad of [[Gilligan's Island|Gilligan's Isle]]", "[[House of the Rising Sun]]", theme from the ''[[Mickey Mouse Club]]'', and others.</ref>
<blockquote>
:Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound
::That saved a wretch like me;
:I once was lost, but now am found;
::Was blind, but now I see.
</blockquote>
[[Emily Dickinson]] is famous for her frequent use of ballad metre:
<blockquote>
:Great streets of silence led away
:To neighborhoods of pause —
:Here was no notice — no dissent —
:No universe — no laws.
</blockquote>