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Ode Definition | What is Ode ? - PoetrySoup

Definition

[n] a lyric poem with complex stanza forms

A lengthy lyric poem typically of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanza structure. A classic ode is structured in three parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist.

Example

Excerpt---

Intimations of Immortality

by William Wordsworth

I
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 whereso'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

II
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.

See Also...

choral ode, Horatian ode, lyric, lyric poem, Pindaric, Pindaric ode, Sapphic ode

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