Editing Ode (section)

== Structure ==
=== Pindaric Odes ===
Pindaric odes, also called Greek odes, follow the form and style of the Ancient Greek poet [[Pindar]]. These employ a tripartite structure, consisting of the ''[[strophe]]'', the ''[[antistrophe]]'', and the ''[[epode]]''.

In Ancient Greece, odes would have been performed on a stage to musical accompaniment. The chorus (or performers of the ode) would deliver the strophe from one side of the stage, then move to the opposite side to deliver the antistrophe, and finally to centerstage for the epode.

This is reflected the three-part nature of the ode: the strophe sets up a theme, the antistrophe balances it with a contrary perspective, and the epode summarises.

Pindaric odes do not follow strict metrical conventions, meaning they are often irregular in their rhyme and line length. However, the strophe and antistrophe are typically identical in structure, with the epode varying the form.

[[William Wordsworth|William Wordsworth's]] ''[[Ode: Intimations of Immortality|Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood]]'' (1807) and [[Thomas Gray|Thomas Gray's]] ''The Progress of Poesy:'' ''A Pindaric Ode'' (1757) are both written in the Pindaric style. 

Gray's ''[[The Bard (poem)|The Bard: A Pindaric Ode]]'' (1757) is a Pindaric ode where the three-part structure is thrice repeated, yielding a longer poem of nine [[Stanza|stanzas]].

=== Horatian Odes ===
Horatian odes, sometimes called homostrophic odes, follow the conventions of the Roman poet [[Horace]]. Unlike the Pindaric ode, the Horatian ode is made up of any number of stanzas (usually [[Quatrain|quatrains]]) which all follow the same [[rhyme scheme]] and [[Metre (poetry)|metre]]. 

In contrast with the very formal [[panegyric]] style of many of Pindar's odes, Horatian odes often tackle more intimate subjects, such as love and friendship, and were not written for public performance.

Some of the most renowned Horatian [[John Keats's 1819 odes|odes]] were written by English [[Romantic poetry|Romantic]] poet [[John Keats]], most famously ''[[Ode to a Nightingale]]'' (1819).

=== Irregular Odes ===
Irregular odes further break down the ode's formal conventions. They are sometimes called Cowleyan odes after the English [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] poet [[Abraham Cowley]], who revived the form in England with his publication of fifteen ''Pindarique Odes'' in 1656. Though this title derives from Pindar, it is a misunderstanding of the Pindaric ode on Cowley's part. In fact, Cowley's odes are very different from the strictly formal Pindaric ode.

In Cowley's poetry, the ode follows an [[Iamb (foot)|iambic]] metre, but employs no regular rhyme or line length.

The 'pindarique' was employed by [[John Milton]] in the chorus of his lyrical tragedy, [[Samson Agonistes]] (1670/71). However, he corrects Cowley's misunderstanding of the form as Pindaric in his 'Preface':

: "''The measure of verse used in the chorus is of all sorts, called by the Greeks 'monostrophic', or rather 'apolelymenon', without regard had to strophe, antistrophe or epode, which were a kind of stanzas framed only for the music, then used with the chorus that sung; not essential to the poem and therefore not material; or, being divided into stanzas or pauses, they may be called 'alloeostropha'."''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milton |first=John |title=Milton: Poetical Works |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1966 |editor-last=Bush |editor-first=Douglas |location=Oxford |pages=518}}</ref>