AbO aka about ode is a great place to enrich your knowledge about odes, and learn more about their various forms, ode poem examples, how to write an ode, etc.
To get you started, LifeXcites brings to you a short poem on ode itself that you will surely find quite interesting.
Ode Mania: A Short Poem on Ode
Ode mania comes to fore,
Heart asks for even more;
There is something in an ode
To celebrate and I want to hear
Its inherent music: bewitched me!
And my heart wishes to flee
To some wonderland where equality
Rests in peace and partiality
Remains a distant dream!
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An Ode in Short?
An ode is a lyrical form of poetry that admires an individual, idea, or event, among others. In ancient Greece, these pieces of odes were accompanied by subtle music. As a matter of fact, the ‘ode’ word comes from the Greek term ‘aeidein’ (meaning sing or chant). Thus, it would not be wrong to say the odes in themselves are more often than not ceremonial, carrying a formal tone. Different types of ode exist, all being highly structured and indeed adhering to the poetic forms.
Framework of an Ode Poem
Conventionally, an ode poem has distinct three sections or, in simple terms, stanzas, which are as follows:
- Strophe: The strophe traditionally (in a Greek ode) consists of two or more lines that are repeated as a single unit. In contemporary odes, the term mainly refers to a single group of verses forming a distinctive unit within the ode poetry piece.
- Antistrophe: The antistrophe is usually structured in the same way as the strophe; however, it offers a refined thematic offset.
- Epode: With a distinct meter and length from the two abovementioned sections (viz strophe and antistrophe), the epode presents the summary or, in other words, conclusion of the idea covered in the ode.
History gave us many great English romantic poets who wrote various forms of odes, all of them exploring intense sensible emotions. Also, odes covering romanticism tend to deviate in form and meter when compared to the traditional Greek odes, but they do tend to follow traditional verse structure.
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Exploring Different Types of Ode Poems
There are three main types of odes:
- Pindaric ode: These are named after the ancient Greek poet Pindar. It has all three elements, namely strophe, antistrophe, and epode. They have irregular line lengths and rhyme schemes.
- Horatian ode: Named after Roman poet Horace, the Horatian ode may have two-line or four-line stanzas sharing the same rhyme scheme and length. These odes normally explore intimate daily life scenes.
- Irregular ode: Irregular odes normally have a rhyme (also, irregular verse structure and stanza patterns).
Prominent Ode Examples
Below we have given well-known examples of all three types of odes.
- Pindaric ode: First three stanzas of ‘Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood’ by William Wordsworth are given below:
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day.
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The Rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the Rose,
The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare,
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where’er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.
Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young lambs bound
As to the tabor’s sound,
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong:
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,
And all the earth is gay;
Land and sea
Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every Beast keep holiday;—
Thou Child of Joy,
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy.
- Horatian Ode: One of the most famous poets who wrote Horatian odes was John Keats. He wrote odes with a deep exploration of his own emotions. Few of his famous odes that are studied today are as follows: Ode on a Grecian Urn, To Autumn, and Ode to a Nightingale, the first stanza of which is provided below:
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
- Irregular Ode: They are also known as the Cowleyan ode, after the poet Abraham Cowley. American poet Allen Tate’s Ode to the Confederate Dead is an irregular ode. Find below its excerpt:
Row after row with strict impunity
The headstones yield their names to the element,
The wind whirrs without recollection;
In the riven troughs the splayed leaves
Pile up, of nature the casual sacrament
To the seasonal eternity of death;
Then driven by the fierce scrutiny
Of heaven to their election in the vast breath,
They sough the rumour of mortality.
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Want to Become a Better Ode Poem Writer?
Writing Ode poetry demands a lot of time and effort as well as great attention to details. Words of advice here are that whatever you write, write with feelings, and you may find your voice.
We hope you like this article on an ode poem and an example of ode poetry. We will be back with more Ode examples.
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