Warm-up Quiz retake

What is an “ode” and how do I write one?

Learning Objective Introduce poetic form of the ode through “Ode to My Socks.” Students will begin to draft their own ode.

The Ode Odes were originally a form of Greek lyrical poetry composed to honor important people, places and events and were accompanied by music. Generally, odes can be thought of as a “formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present.”

Three types of odes Pindaric Horatian Irregular

Pindaric Ode – Named for ancient Greek poet, Pindar (credited for inventing the ode in 500 B.C.) – Performed with a chorus and dancers – Were usually serious, dignified, and celebrated great victories (athletic) – Composed of 3 very structured, intricate stanzas/parts Strophe, antistrophe, epode

Example (Based on an extract from 'The Progress of Poesy' by Thomas Gray) Wake up, you little sleep head, awakeA And give great joy to life that's found in dreamsB From Nature's most sweet sounding streamsB A thousand turns their twisty journeys takeA The dancing flowers, that above them blowC Breathe life and music as they flowC Now the vast waves of sound drift alongD Deep, beautiful, vast and strongD Through the fields and vales and valleys they glideE And rolling down the mountain sideE Daring and carefree the water poursF From the highest edge they jump and falling, they roar.F

Horatian Ode Named for the Roman poet Horace More tranquil and contemplative (thoughtful) than the Pindaric Ode Less formal, better suited to quiet reading The Horatian odes almost always repeat a single stanza shape throughout the ode, based upon the first stanza. However, the 'shape' of the stanza is at the discretion of the poet.

Example John Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale' example below uses the rhyme scheme of ABABCDECDE, which defines the shape of the ode as 10 lines per stanza. My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains (A) My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, (B) Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains (A) One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: (B) 'Tis not through envy of the happy lot, (C) But being too happy in thy happiness,- (D) That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, (E) In some melodious plot (C) Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, (D) Singest of summer in full-throated ease. (E)

Irregular Ode Many formal and informal possibilities Some rhyme, some do not rhyme Over the years, poets have adapted the form by writing odes about more commonplace items

Pablo Neruda A famous Chilean poet, political activist, diplomat, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 Pioneered the irregular ode Abandoned serious topics Discarded rules about stanzas and meter Wrote odes that sang the praises of everyday life and ordinary objects: a pair of socks, onions, a tomato, ironing, a spoon, French fries, a bar of soap, a storm, laziness.

Ode to my Socks 1) Why is the poem written in such short, choppy lines? How does this relate to its subject matter? 2) How would the message of the poem be different if the speaker decided to save the socks and never wear them? 3) The socks are compared to several different animals and objects in the poem. Which is the most effective, in your opinion? Why? 4) Why do you think the poem is about socks? How would it be different if it were about shoes, for example? 5) The speaker says that socks are doubly good and beautiful on a winter's day. What do you think would define good and beauty on a summer day?