ode

ode (ENG OR FR N-M) poetic form from Greek and Roman antiquity, usually thought fitting for exalted, noble subjects; with complex stanza patterns, varying line lengths and meters. The ode is generally formal and ceremonious, and usually quite long, often used at state occasions such as the birth, accession, or death of a ruler. Odes were probably performed in choral song and dance in ancient Greece. Ronsard's first volume of odes (1550) were the first French examples. First appears in French in…