(Scan down to Ode.)

http://www.poeticbyway.com/gl-o.html

Oh dear, it's all a bit vague and, conversely, complex, isn't it. Maybe this will help: I once took part in a competition ('Search for an Ode,') to be written after the pattern in Keats 'Ode to Autumn.' Just one verse, thankfully.

In case you haven't read the first link, an Ode is supposed to be lyrical and to address someone or something.

Here is Keat's poem:

http://www.bartleby.com/106/255.html

And here's mine. It was challenging, and fun to write.


Ode to Courage. 11 lines. a,b,a,b,c,d,e,d,c,c,e.

Beyond the hope of seasons hidden deep
in time denied, beyond the aching reach
of outstretched fingers grasp, you ever keep
your dignity, oh Courage. Fate may bleach
our mortal bones, but in the turbulence
of living, it is you who testifies
to strength; you are the spirit's troubadour,
your song a quiet focus that defies
finality of death. Your evidence
inspires - it shows the soul's magnificence.
You live in memory for evermore.

KE


And here's the same pattern I used in a tribute to a falcon fledgeling that was killed. Around the world, people watched via falcon-cam, as the birds mated, and reared their young. We talked via a website.

Ode to a Lost Falcon.

Beloved bright and beautiful, we mourn;
they say you fell. We hear they found you dead
this morning on a balcony, and torn
by stronger winds we weep for you who fed
on life as we do, helplessly. We saw
you born from falconshell, upon a ledge
of pebbles high within our city's heart,
and through a voyeurs' eye, we saw you fledge.
And though we shivered at the way you tore
at life, we marvelled, loved you even more
for fierceness and skill, the killer's art.

Beloved bold and beautiful, we cry
for you. We empathise, for we who grasp
at life with passion, understand; we try
our eager wings against the wind, we clasp
the things we love so strongly, yet we take
the risk of crashing as we lift on air.
Oh fierce avian we say goodbye
in sadness; you were young. Our hearts will ache
in memory of you when falcons play.
We'll watch them plunge and wheel in joy; we'll say
it is for freedom that we live and die.

KE

Honestly, it's a great form. Try it!

Hi Kathy.

Thanks for this post. A few more tidbits on the Ode:

An Ode is a kind of poem devoted to the praise of a person, animal, or thing. It is usually written in an elevated style and often expresses deep feeling, is usually elaborate as well as being a stately lyric poem of some length. It often has varying iambic line lengths with no fixed system of rhyme schemes.

Cheers
Lori

Thanks Lori. Why didn't I think of that?