ode
ode(from Greek, ‘song’), a lyric poem of some length and elevated style on a serious subject. Odes are generally classified as either Pindaric or Horatian, depending upon their stanzaic structure and tone. The Pindaric ode—which is typically passionate, visionary, and sonorous—is modelled on the lyrics of Pindar . Designed to be sung and danced by the Greek chorus either at a public festival or in a theatre, these lyrics were written in complex stanzas which mirror the pattern of the dance and have a triadic structure: dancing to the left, the chorus chanted the strophe; dancing to the right, they repeated the pattern in the antistrophe; standing still, they brought the intricate pattern to a close in the epode, which had a different length and arrangement.
Unlike Pindarics, the Horatian ode (named after Horace ) tends to be meditative, tranquil, and colloquial. Horatian odes are almost always homostrophic, repeating a single...
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