Ode:Most simply, the Ode is known as a poem addressed to somebody or something. But, besides that one simple feature, the ode is characterized by a number of features of a special classical form of poetry, or poetic expression. It is one of those elaborately structured forms in which lyric poems were written by the classical poets for praising and glorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature, intellectually rather than emotionally. Odes were originally songs performed publicly to the accompaniment of a musical instrument. An ode usually expresses feelings in a dignified and sincere manner; the tone is usually one of imaginative and intellectual meditation or discursive expounding of philosophical ideas. Odes are usually highly subjective in content, being most often an externalization of the poet’s internal feelings. The Ode is a genre that comes down from the classical Greek poets who wrote two types of odes: choral odes that were sung by chorus in dramas, and personal odes that were sung by individual poets to mark important incidents or to praise some person, god or thing. In modern times the ode has undergone immense changes in form and structure, and there have been two distinct types called the regular and the irregular odes. The stanzas of an irregular ode vary in number, length and tone, but the regular ode is written in stanzas of equal lines, meter and similar tone.
            Whether classical or the modified modern ones, the odes are usually long lyrical poems that are serious in subject and treatment, intellectual in theme, elevated in style, and elaborate in stanzaic pattern. The variation of line length, number of lines per stanza, metre, and rhyme scheme is typical of the irregular odes common in English literature. The romantic poets perfected the personal ode of description and passionate meditation, which is stimulated by an aspect of the outer scene and turns on the attempt to solve either a personal problem or a genuinely human one.  More typically, these poets – most typically John Keats – develop a personal issue so as to embrace a general problem, and they go to the extent of developing a philosophy about life in general, or about creativity, suffering, myth, art and life, or mortality and eternity. Keats’ odes are personal and romantic odes, but they follow the seriousness of tone, philosophical subjects and themes, regular stanza patterns and rhythm. Keats also uses classical kind of perfection in language: the word-choice, expression, metaphors and allusions, and sentence structure and music are less ordinary and spontaneous than in normal ‘romantic’ poems.

Allegory: Allegory is a parallel story. If a single word or expression has an abstract and general meaning, it is called a symbol; but if the whole ‘story’ of a drama, story or poem has a symbolic meaning throughout, it is called an allegory. Read More...

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds. The repeated consonants normally occur at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Read More...

Allusion: An allusion in a literary text is a reference to a personal place or event or to another literary work or passage. It does not have clear identification, that is, it does not tell directly what it stands for. Read More...

Animation: Animation is giving life to non-living objects. If a poet treats a lifeless concrete thing as having life, awareness, will-power, thought, emotion, etc, that is called animation. For example, if a poet says, "The moon is ‘smiling’ at me", he animates the moon. Read More...

Ballad:originally a kind of folk song; also sung with music; now recorded in writing, and also regarded as literature/ poetry. Read More...

Classical Poetry:The classical or neo-classical poets of the eighteenth century had had made poetry more social than personal, more intellectual than emotional and imaginative, more rule-based than spontaneous. Read More...

Conceit: The conceit is a striking metaphor. It is so original and unconventional that it not only strikes the reader into attention, but sometimes shocks them, being even objectionable or absurd at first. Read More...

Denotation: It refers to the literal meaning of words. Words or sentences in a literary work may have clear or hidden meaning. Read More...

Epic: One the oldest of the poetic forms, the epic is a long narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style, dealing with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Read More...

Epic Simile: The epic simile is a figurative device first popularized by Homer in his epics. It is a comparison that may be as long as a dozen lines. Read More...

Heroic couplet: Heroic couplet is a pair of lines with iambic pentameter; the lines must also rhyme together. Read More...

Iambic pentameter: Iambic pentameter means ‘five iambic feet in a line’. ‘Iambic’ means a unit of rhythm with two syllables where the first is not stressed (U) and the second is stressed (S). Read More...

Image: An image is considered to be a picture created in the mind by words. Generally images are divided as visual images and abstract images. Read More...

Imagery: Imagery is the general term for the use of ‘images’ in poetry. The use of all kinds of concrete, metaphoric and more abstract is called imagery. Read More...