MIXED METER

Used wisely, the writer can use more than one meter pattern in a text and have it turn out well.

All the metering patterns are categorized into two groups: Rising and Falling - depending on the accent of the first syllable of the meter foot.

RISING FOOT			FALLING FOOT
Iambic (uA)   Anapestic (uuA)			Trochaic (Au)   Dactylic (Auu)

One of the ways to vary meter is to vary the use of the Rising and Falling meters.

(Au) (uA) (Au) (uA) (Au) (Au) (Au) (uA)

Glory be to God on high, And peace on earth descend: God comes down, He bows the sky, And shows Himself our Friend: God th' invisible appears: God, the blest, the great I AM, Sojourns in this vale of tears, And Jesus is His name.

Another -

(Au) (uA) (Au) (uA)

Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings    Thy better portion trace; Rise from transitory things    Toward Heaven, thy native place

Notice the subtle emotional change between the (Au) lines and the (uA) lines - each text manages to start with that strong Trochaic kick, but in the lines where devotion is needed more than power the writer switched to Iambic feet.

Notice this is not used as an excuse for poor metering and rhyming, but a purposely-used variation to evoke the proper responses from the subject matter.

Another way to vary metering is to employ two types of meter with the same type of first syllable. For example, employing both Dactylic and Trochaic:

(Auu) (Auu) (Auu)
(Au) (Au) (Au)
(Auu) (Auu) (Auu)
(Au) (Au) (Au)

In this example the second and fourth lines could be sung slower, using up as much music time but delivering their message with more impact because they would linger longer. Although this example is in the books, I have not found a hymn using it... If you know of one, please tell me.