Long Metre, abbreviated L.M. or LM, is a poetic metre consisting of four line stanzas, or quatrains, in iambic tetrameter with alternate rhyme pattern a-b-a-b. The term is also used in the closely related area of hymn metres. When the poem is used as a sung hymn, the metre of the text is denoted by the syllable count of each line; for long metre, the count is denoted by 8.8.8.8 or 88.88, depending on style. It is similar to common metre (for hymns denoted as 8.6.8.6 or 86.86) which consists of four lines in alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.
Famous quotes containing the word long:
“I look upon England today as an old gentleman who is travelling with a great deal of baggage, trumpery which has accumulated from long housekeeping, which he has not the courage to burn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)