What is an Ode? Briefly trace the development of this form in English Literature.
Introduction
Ode is a serious lyric worded out in detail. It expresses a great desire of the poet or it is a complicated lyric addressed to a personified object, idea, or venerated person. Here the poet's wish is in the form of a prayer made to the person addressed.
Thus ode is an elaborate Lyric worked out in detail, expressing the poet's longing or his prayer made to a personified object, idea, or a deeply respected person. It may be clear that the elements of Ode are three, elaborate lyricism, the poet's longing or prayer, and descriptions of other things.
History of Ode -
Ode had its origin in the ancient Greek tragedy. There is emerged as an elaborate choral song. It was sung to inform the audience of the nature of the coming tragedy. When it was sung in the beginning of the tragedy, it was called the ' parodos '. And it was called the ' stamp. Then, it was sung after each episode of the tragedy.
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides gradually perfected the ode to a high degree. But it was Pindar who finished it to the last degree. 9 Among the Latin poets, Horace wrote three books of the Odes published in 23 B.C. the odes were all addressed to some person or thing. Most of them were monodic lyrics. They were composed under the inspiration of the Greek ode. Yet their structure was very simple.
Ode in English Literature -
In England, Ode appeared during the Renaissance ( 1578-1625 ). The first ode-writer was Edmund Spenser. His first ode is " Epithalamion " ( 1594 ). Through it he celebrates his own marriage. His next ode in " Prothalamion " ( 1596 ) . It was composed to celebrate the marriage of someone else.
The next ode-writer was John Milton. His ode is entitled " Ode on The Morning of Christ's Nativity. " It was composed in 1629. After Milton, there appeared Andrew Marvell's " Horatian Ode " in honour of Oliver Cromwell in 1660. In 1660. Abraham Cowley composed a good number of " Pindaric Odes ". But his ode does not strictly break up into the Strophe, the Antistrophe, and the Epode.
After some years Dryden also composed such free-style Pindaric odes. They are called Called " Ode for St. Cecilia's Day ( 1687-1697 ), Later on. All the English " Pindaric Odes " of the 18th century were composed on the model of Dryden's odes.
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