

AABA form, also known as 32-bar song form, consists of a twice-repeated strophe (AA), followed by a contrasting bridge (B), followed by another repetition of the initial strophe (A).Strophic form consists only of repeated strophes.The foot is less common today than it was in classical Greek poetry. Pyrrhic: used to refer to a metrical foot that contains two unstressed syllables.It is used to refer, specifically, to his odes and those written in his traditional style. Pindaric Ode: refers to the body of work, and style, of the Greek poet Pindar.This could be someone they know or a direct reference to the traditional Greek muses. Muse: a source of inspiration for the writer.It contains six feet and usually utilizes a combination of dactyls and spondees.

Hexameter: refers to a meter commonly used in Greek and Latin epic poetry.Antistrophe: a rhetorical device that’s concerned with the repetition of the same word or words at the end of consecutive phrases.Inspired by the innovations of classical Greek poets, modern English poets (and poets from around the world) attempted to recreate the structure in their own work. Specifically, the odes found within Greek tragedies. On her glorious round throne in our market place,Ĭommonly, writers used strophes to mimic the structure of traditional Greek lyric poems. The next section, the antistrophe, begins with:įirst I call on you, Athena the immortal,ĭaughter of Zeus, and on your sister, too, Then, following the first stanza, the second stanza would be chanted/sung while the chorus moved back across the stage. It’s during this first stanza that the chorus would make its initial movements across the stage.

My fearful heart twists on the rack and shakes with fear. You have come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho. For example, these lines from the beginning of the play: The strophe is the first stanza of the choral ode. Within this well-known play, there are famous traditional examples of Greek strophes. The stanzas within this poem are long, elaborately rhymed, and allude to the traditions of Greek lyric poetry.

It emphasizes a feeling of melancholy within nature (as is seen within Greek poetry). The poem was written in 1819 and is the longest of Keats’ famous odes. That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees, One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains It is also a great example of the ways in which modern English writers attempted to reproduce the ode structure of Greek lyrical poems. This Romantic ode is one of the best-known examples of John Keats’ poetry. These first lines describe the poet’s feelings about liberty-the most important theme at work within the poem and within the French Revolution (or at least the version of it he supported).ĭiscover more Samuel Taylor Coleridge poems. Save when your own imperious branches swinging, Midway the smooth and perilous slope reclined. Ye Woods! that listen to the night-birds singing, Ye Ocean-Waves! that, wheresoe’er ye roll, Whose pathless march no mortal may control! Ye Clouds! that far above me float and pause, Readers will also encounter religious thoughts within the text. He speaks about how his allegiance to the movement shifted when they invaded Switzerland. The poem was written in April 1798 and described the poet’s changing feelings regarding the French Revolution. This lesser-read Coleridge poem is a good example of an ode divided into stanzas, referred to as strophes. This section was chanted by the group as they stood still.Įxamples of Strophes France: An Ode by Samuel Taylor Coleridge It was followed by the antistrophe (which used the same meter) and was performed as the chorus moved back across the stage. In Greek poems, it is the first part of the ode performed by the chorus as the group moves from one side of the stage to the other. The term “stanza” is utilized for regular and repeated structures. Today, the term strophe, when used to describe a unit of a poem, is used in reference to longer, less regular stanzas. It is related to Greek odes and the structure of poems. The word “strophe” is used in a variety of ways.
