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In Praise of the Ode (How to Write an Ode Infographic)

By Will Willingham 24 Comments

how to write an ode infographic

How to Write an Ode

By definition, the ode is a poem addressed to an object of one’s affection, whether a person, a place, a thing, or even an idea or feeling. Its roots go back to Greece in the 5th century BC, where the form was first introduced as performance poetry, complete with singers, dancers, an orchestra and a stage to go along with its complex structure. Today, you might read an ode extolling socks, thanks to Pablo Neruda.

As our ode theme winds down for the month of March, we invite you to give it one more try with our new In Praise of the Ode Infographic, created to help you learn about and how to write an ode. Maybe you’ll include the strophe, antistrophe and epode in your poem. Maybe you’ll hire a robed choir to perform it for you. Or perhaps you’ll just find some gadget in your kitchen drawer and write one as irregular as it is.
And don’t forget to try Maureen’s “Ode Finder.” Don’t peek at the answers.

3 Ways to be Ode-ish
PINDARIC: named for Greek poet Pindar in the 5th century BC, pindaric odes were performed by a chorus and dancers with the strophe sung or chanted by a chorus moving east to west across a stage. The ode turned on the antistrophe—sung west to east—then concluded with the epode.
HORATIAN: named for Roman poet Horace in the 1st century BC, horatian odes were formed by a series of stanzas with a consistent repeating structure.
IRREGULAR: irregular odes made their first appearance around the 17th century. Each stanza will have its own particular metrical structure and rhyme scheme.

How to Write an Ode
1. Choose something you love
2. Write a poem to it
3. Odes are often long, at least 5 stanzas
4. rhyme scheme and meter are up to you, though in traditional odes the first two stanzas were identical in structure and the third varied

What’s in Your Ode?
• strophe: the first stanza in a traditional ode
• antistrophe: the second stanza, identical in structure to the strophe, and features a turn
• epode: the final stanza, which takes on a different rhyme and meter

7 famous Ode-lers
1. Pindar
2. Horace
3. John Keats
4. Ben Jonson
5. Thomas Gray
6. Pablo Neruda
7. Pierre de Ronsard

Post and infographic by Will Willingham.

_______________________

How to Write a Poem 283 high How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.

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—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland

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Will Willingham
Will Willingham
Director of Many Things; Senior Editor, Designer and Illustrator at Tweetspeak Poetry
I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel is Adjustments.
Will Willingham
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Filed Under: Blog, Infographics, Ode Poems, poetry, poetry teaching resources

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About Will Willingham

I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel is Adjustments.

Comments

  1. L. L. Barkat says

    March 29, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    I love the cat especially. He makes me laugh 🙂

    Poetry has such an interesting history. (And you make it all the more fun in the present.)

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      March 30, 2014 at 7:33 pm

      Thanks. 🙂 I liked the socks.

      Reply
  2. Richard Maxson says

    March 29, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    I do not know much about odes, don’t know much biology, don’t know much about the French I took…oh, sorry, loved Sam Cooke. I was saying, I don’t know much about odes, but this prompt has been inspirational to see all the variation. So, here’s to a friend of mine:

    Ode To My Muse

    I have found you in mistaken words
    of songs, in the broken light
    of neighborhoods outside the town,

    where you walked with me,
    like an ambiguous angel, abiding
    and escaping along the lamps.

    I’ve seen you in the moments
    of pattering confusion,
    before dreams in the dimming day.

    You sing to me like the bird
    I cannot see that sends its litany
    into the here and everywhere.

    Stay with me, exasperating as you are;
    keep me with you, flesh and bone, or light
    flickering in the grass, like fireflies in a jar.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      March 30, 2014 at 7:32 pm

      This is great, Richard. 🙂 Really liked “keep me with you, flesh and bone, or light/flickering in the grass, like fireflies in a jar.”

      And thanks for sharing the graphic on your site. 🙂

      Reply
      • Richard Maxson says

        April 1, 2014 at 7:44 am

        Thank you.

        Reply
  3. Richard Maxson says

    March 29, 2014 at 6:09 pm

    That’s a fun one, Maureen. And I love the info-graphic and have it on my website.

    Reply
  4. Maureen Doallas says

    March 29, 2014 at 7:31 pm

    You doth surpass yourself. Really wonderful. And the cat: what fun!

    Teachers of poetry should be using your infographics.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      March 30, 2014 at 7:33 pm

      Thanks, Maureen. Thought grumpy cat had a place on the page. 😉

      My son came home one day and said one of the English teachers at his school was using the sonnet graphic. We’ll get them out there, one by one. 😉

      Reply
  5. Sandra Heska King says

    March 30, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    I was just combing through my archives and found this I wrote in response to this photo-poetry challenge. Remember?

    https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2011/05/31/whats-a-poem-worth/

    Ode to Yogurt

    We met at the
    crossroads of the coolers
    in the middle of the aisle
    you so strawberry sweet
    thick and creamy smooth
    a ninety-nine cent bargain
    culture in a spoon.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      March 30, 2014 at 6:45 pm

      Was this the 99 cent prompt, Sandy? I think I remember the yogurt poem.

      The 99 cent prompt was the one referenced in my desperate housewives poem that started this whole poetry thing for me. 😉

      Reply
      • Sandra Heska King says

        March 30, 2014 at 6:46 pm

        Yep, it was. 🙂

        Reply
      • L. L. Barkat says

        March 30, 2014 at 9:09 pm

        Well, look at that. Less than a dollar to change a life 😉

        (I remember that yogurt poem! Fun.)

        Reply
  6. Megan Willome says

    March 31, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    This helps so much! I’ve had an ode poem in mind but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Now I have inspiring artwork!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How to Write an Ode Infographic | Poets & W... says:
    March 29, 2014 at 4:08 pm

    […] Our new "In Praise of the Ode" infographic will give you a little ode history, famous odes and ode-lers, and some great tips on how to write an ode.  […]

    Reply
  2. Ode To My Muse | The Imagined Jay says:
    March 29, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    […] *** Posted in TSPoetry – In Praise of the Ode […]

    Reply
  3. It's National Poultry Month! - says:
    April 2, 2015 at 10:07 am

    […] time to hatch our best haiku, villanelles, sonnets, sestinas, pantoums, ghazals, ballads, odes, and catalog poems for National Poultry […]

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  4. Poetry: Various Forms | ELA in the middle says:
    January 28, 2017 at 2:35 pm

    […] Ode (excellent way to praise something or someone you love or admire) […]

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  5. Eating and Drinking Poems: Barbara Crooker's "Ode to Olive Oil" - says:
    February 2, 2017 at 11:15 am

    […] Write your own ode to a condiment. Research it; imagine it; let your writer and editor work together on what to tell and what to simply savor in your mind. […]

    Reply
  6. Flying Machines Poetry Prompt: An Ode to SkyMall - says:
    August 14, 2017 at 8:00 am

    […] write about the human side of the merchandise. You can challenge yourself by writing a poem in the form of an ode, or just wing it (Ha! Get […]

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  7. Poetry Prompt: Fireworks, Sparkles & Speckles - says:
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    […] special attention to what glints and gleams, sparkles and speckles, or… explodes! Then try writing an ode to whatever enlivened you […]

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  8. 5 • Prayer for or Ode to Food says:
    April 5, 2019 at 7:04 am

    […] a prayer for or an ode to a food item you are about to eat or already ate today. Will you (or did you) eat the whole item? […]

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  9. 30-Day Meal Plan - Poetic Earth Month says:
    April 11, 2020 at 7:01 am

    […] all is lost for this food item. Why will it go to waste? Why did you buy it in the first place? Write an ode to the food item. It can be serious or […]

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  10. Event + Tell the Bees Poetry Prompt! - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
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  11. Top 10 Poetic Calvin & Hobbes Quotes - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
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