Ode
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Ode (from the Ancient Greek ὠδή) is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. 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.
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[edit] Greek origins
Each of these culminated in what have been called odes, but the former, in the hands of Alcaeus, Anacreon and Sappho, came closer to the lyric.
On the other hand, the choir-song, in which the poet spoke for himself, but always supported, or interpreted, by a chorus, led to the ode proper. Alcman is supposed to have given this poems a strophic arrangement, and the strophe has come to be essential to an ode. Stesichorus, Ibycus and Simonides of Ceos led the way to the two great masters of ode among the ancients: Pindar and Bacchylides.
The form and verse-arrangement of Pindar's great lyrics have regulated the type of the heroic ode. It is now perceived that they are consciously composed in very elaborate measures, and that each is the result of a separate act of creative ingenuity, but each preserving an absolute consistency of form. So far from being, as critics down to Cowley and Boileau supposed, utterly licentious in their irregularity, they are more like the canzos and sirventes of the medieval troubadours than any modern verse. The Latins themselves seem to have lost the secret of these complicated harmonies, and they made no serious attempt to imitate the odes of Pindar and Bacchylides.
It is probable that the Greek odes gradually lost their musical character; they were accompanied on the flute, and then declaimed without any music at all. The ode, as it was practiced by the Romans, returned to the personally lyrical form of the Lesbian lyrists. This was exemplified, in the most exquisite way, by Horace and Catullus; the former imitated, and even translated, Alcaeus and Anacreon, the latter was directly inspired by Sappho.
[edit] English ode
The initial model for English odes was Horace, who used the form to write meditative lyrics on various themes. The earliest odes in the English language, using the word in its strict form, were the magnificent Epithalamium and Prothalamium of Edmund Spenser.
In the 17th century, the most important original odes in English are those of Abraham Cowley and Andrew Marvell. Marvell, in his Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland uses a regular form (two four-foot lines followed by two three-foot lines) modeled on Horace, while Cowley wrote "Pindarick" odes which had irregular patterns of line lengths and rhyme schemes, though they were iambic. The principle of Cowley's Pindaricks was based on a misunderstanding of Pindar's metrical practice, but was widely imitated, with notable success by John Dryden.
With Pindar's metre being better understood in the 18th century, the fashion for Pindaric odes faded, though there are notable "actual" Pindaric odes by Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy and The Bard.
The Pindarick of Cowley was revived around 1800 by Wordsworth for one of his very finest poems, the Intimations of Immortality ode; irregular odes were also written by Coleridge. Keats and Shelley wrote odes with regular stanza patterns. Shelley's Ode to the West Wind, written in fourteen line terza rima stanzas, is a major poem in the form, but perhaps the greatest odes of the 19th century were written by Keats. After Keats, there have been comparatively few major odes in English. One major exception is the fourth verse of the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon which is often known as "The ode to the fallen" or more simply as "The Ode".
[edit] Spanish and Latin American ode
In the Spanish-speaking world, the Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate, Pablo Neruda revived the ode; composing odes to concepts, inanimate objects, fruits, vegetables and all forms of creatures. Neruda focused on simple and common things that had never been the subject matter of poets before. Many of Neruda’s odes were published in three books, Odas elementales (Elemental Odes) (1954), Nuevas Odas Elementales (New Elemental Odes) (1956) and Navegaciones y regresos (Voyages and Homecomings) (1959). Neruda’s odes have been widely translated and have greatly contributed to the popularity of the ode among students and young poets. Some subjects of his odes included a tomato, a cat, wine and so on.
[edit] Ode in music
A musical setting of a poetic ode is also known as an ode. Horatian odes were frequently set to music in the 16th century, notably by Ludwig Senfl and Claude Goudimel. Dryden's "Ode on St. Cecilia's Day" was set by Handel, and Schiller's Ode to Joy was used in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Odes to dignitaries were often set also, such as the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne by Handel. Byron's Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte was set by Arnold Schoenberg.
[edit] Pop music
- Ode to LRC is a song by Band of Horses.
- Ode to Don Jose a song by The Art of Noise.
- Ode to Chin is a song by Switchfoot.
- Ode to Star L23 is a song by We Are Scientists.
- Ode to Billie Joe is a song by Bobbie Gentry.
- Ode to my Family is a song by The Cranberries.
- Ode To Summer is a song by Welsh Alternative Rock band Lostprophets.
- Ode to Serotonin is a song by Nightmare of You.
- Ode to My Car is a song by Adam Sandler
- Fuck You (An Ode to No One) is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins.
- Ode to the Sun is a song by Dredg.
- An Ode to Maybe is a song by Third Eye Blind.
- Ode to Ochrasy is an album by Mando Diao.
- Ode to Divorce is a song by Regina Spektor.
- Ode to a Grasshopper was improvised by Jim Morrison at the 1968 The Doors concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Ode is a song by the band Creed.
- Ode of a Biker is a song by Overload.
- Ode To Silence is a song by Kisschasy.
- Ode 2 Oren Ishii is a song by Rza, a character of the film Kill Bill, which he also helped score.
- Ode To A Superhero is a parody of Piano Man by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
- Milk (Ode to Billy) by Anthrax
- Ode to Clarissa a song by Queens of the Stone Age\Nick Oliveri.
- Ode to the Lonely Hearted is a song by Sugar Ray.
- The ode to 2nd hour is a song by Chiodos.
