What Is an Ode? Definition + Famous Ode Examples

An ode is a lyric poem written to something or someone — a celebration, an address, a meditation on a subject the poet considers worthy of sustained attention. Keats wrote odes to nightingales, Grecian urns, and autumn. Neruda wrote odes to socks and tomatoes. The form is flexible: Pindaric odes have a strict strophe/antistrophe/epode structure, Horatian odes are more regular, and irregular odes follow their own rules.

5. Ode

Variable length Lyric poem Addressed to a subject

An ode is a lyric poem written to something or someone — a celebration, an address, a meditation on a subject the poet considers worthy of sustained attention. Keats wrote odes to nightingales, Grecian urns, and autumn. Neruda wrote odes to socks and tomatoes. The form is flexible: Pindaric odes have a strict strophe/antistrophe/epode structure, Horatian odes are more regular, and irregular odes follow their own rules.

from “To Autumn”
John Keats (1820)
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
First stanza of three.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a 5. ode?

An ode is a lyric poem written to something or someone — a celebration, an address, a meditation on a subject the poet considers worthy of sustained attention. Keats wrote odes to nightingales, Grecian urns, and autumn. Neruda wrote odes to socks and tomatoes. The form is flexible: Pindaric odes have a strict strophe/antistrophe/epode structure, Horatian odes are more regular, and irregular odes follow their own rules.

What are the rules of a 5. ode?

See the structure section above — line count, rhyme scheme, meter, and stanza requirements vary by form.

How do I write a 5. ode?

Start with the structural rules (line/syllable count, rhyme), then focus on imagery and emotional truth. Try our free poem generator for inspiration.

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