ode

Lyric poem with complex rules of structure. Odes originated in ancient Greece, where they were chanted to a musical accompaniment. Classical writers of odes include Sappho, Pindar, Horace, and Catullus. English poets who adopted the form include Edmund Spenser, John Milton, John Dryden, and John Keats.

Keats's Ode to Autumn demonstrates the power of skillfully combining deep emotion with a formal style of writing. In this respect, odes have much in common with sonnet form. The English poet Wilfred Owen combined explicit wartime violence and desperation with classical verse techniques in his odes.