Odes 101

Originated in Greece, odes used to be performed as songs in religious and other notable ceremonies, accompanied by the lyre. 

Simply put, it's a celebratory poem, usually exulting a specific person or, later on, object.

The form evolved through the centuries, so for clarity (and to be helpful as a review for my midterm) I will use the divisions shown in class.

(1) Pindar

Theban lyric poet, greatest exponent of the genre, with a great focus on the choral aspect. 

Used regular metrical and stanzaic limits (triads): strophe, antistrophe, epode.

Pindaric (duh) 

Solemn and hyperbolical, employed to celebrate gods and victories. 

Epinician

Written on commission, to celebrate specific athletes and their victories.

(2) Horace

A moderate practitioner of Epicureanism, Horace was much less on board with grand celebrations than his predecesor, so his odes express a gentle irony.

Horatian (again, duh)

Usually two or four line stanza pattern and much more personal, though his later ones become more solemn. 

(3) 19th Century

With the advent of Romanticism and its nostalgic fondness for Classical forms (while at the same time achieving independence from them and their authors), the ode became synonym with gravity and nobility. Romantic odes are usually long, address the subject or evoke some particular occasion. They go beyond the merely personal and become reflexive of grander themes, even philosophical. 

(4) 20th Century

Are odes even possible by this point? They feel too grandiose, promise too much. Still, we might find some that either playful or nostalgic/bitter.