ode

/oʊd/

/əʊd/

Other forms: odes

An ode is a kind of poem, usually praising something. A famous example is John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Apparently, Keats was really into urns.

An ode is a form of lyric poetry — expressing emotion — and it's usually addressed to someone or something, or it represents the poet's musings on that person or thing, as Keats' ode tells us what he thought as he looked at the Grecian urn. The word ode comes from a Greek word for "song," and like a song, an ode is made up of verses and can have a complex meter.

Definitions of ode

1. noun

   a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
   types:

   epithalamium

   an ode in honor of a wedding

   Horatian ode, Sapphic ode

   an ode with several stanzas

   Pindaric, Pindaric ode

   an ode form used by Pindar; has triple groups of triple units

   choral ode

   ode sung by the chorus in classical Greek drama

   prothalamion, prothalamium

   a song in celebration of a marriage

   type of:

   lyric, lyric poem

   a short poem of songlike quality