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Ode: A type of lyric or melic verse, usually irregular rather than uniform, generally of considerable length, and sometimes continuous, sometimes divided in accordance with transitions of thought and mood in a complexity of stanzaic forms; it often has varying iambic line lengths with no fixed system of rhyme schemes and is always marked by the rich, intense expression of an elevated thought, often addressed to a praised person or object.
NOTE: Two other important forms of the ode arose from classical poetry; (1) the Dorian or choric ode designed for singing, after which pindaric verse was patterned, and (2) the Aeolic or horatian ode, of which Ode to a Nightingale, considered to be one of John Keats' finest works, is an example. More commonly used in English poetry, however, is the irregular form described above and exemplified in Wordsworth's Ode. Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.
(See also encomium, epinicion, sapphic verse)
