Section 3 - Poems

Poems

Ode

• In greek means 'song';aeidein, meaning to sing or chant
• lyric poem, usually of some length
• elaborate stanza-structure
• marked formality
• stateliness in tone and style, grandeur
• lofty sentiments and thoughts 
• three types: Pindaric, Horatian and Irregular

• Pindaric: named for the ancient Greek poet Pindar, who is credited with inventing the ode. Pindaric odes were performed with a chorus and dancers, and often composed to celebrate athletic victories 

• Horatian: named for the Roman poet Horace, is generally more tranquil and contemplative than the Pindaric ode. Less formal, less ceremonious, and better suited to quiet reading than theatrical production, the Horatian ode typically uses a regular, recurrent stanza pattern 

•  employed all manner of formal possibilities, while often retaining the tone and thematic elements of the classical ode

• two kinds: public or private. 

• Public odes are used to celebrate certain occasions, like funerals, birthdays, etc. 

• Private odes often celebrate intense, persona, and subjective occasions (often they are meditative and reflective)

Odes 

Ode to a Nightingale 1819, May
"My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains"

Ode on a Grecian Urn 1819, May
"Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,"

Ode to Psyche 1819, Spring
"O GODDESS! Hear these tuneless numbers, wrung"

Ode to Autumn 19, Sept, 1819
"SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,"

Ode on Melancholy 1819, Spring
"NO, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist"

Ode on Indolence Spring 1819
"One morn before me were three figures seen,"

Ode - (Bards of Passion and of Mirth) 1820
"BARDS of Passion and of Mirth,”

Ode to Fancy
"Ever let the Fancy roam,"

Ode to Apollo
"In thy western halls of gold”

Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
“Souls of Poets dead and gone”

Robin Hood-To a Friend
“No! those days are gone away,”

Themes 

Inevitability of Death: 

• "Ode on Indolence" 
• "Ode on Melancholy"

Contemplation of Beauty: 

• "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
• "Ode to a Nightingale"

Synesthetic Imagery 

Means in greek 'perceiving together'. It is the combination of sensations through the use of words that appeal to different senses simultaneously and thus create a link between two illogically associated concepts. 

The purpose of these images is to create and point out the unity and harmony between different aspects of life. An example would be:

"Isabella; or, The Pot of Gold"
And TASTE the MUSIC of that VISION pale. (stanza XLIX)

Here, 'taste' evokes a gustatory image, yet, when it is juxtaposed with 'music', an obvious auditory image, the result is only viable on a conceptual plane as it is not possible to 'taste' 'music'. However, 'vision' modifies the sentence's imagery again, and now the 'music' alluded to comes from a 'vision', a visual image. As we can see, the image created is complex and intangible, only real in the reader's mind.

Poetic Ballad 

A poetic ballad is fundamentally a song which tells a story: the beginning is often abrupt, the language used is straightforward and plain, the plot is revealed through dialogue and action, the theme is generally tragic, and refrains are common. 

Poem Reading