Meaning of Ode (What it is, Concept and Definition)

Ode is poetic composition of the lyrical genre that is divided into symmetrical stanzas. The term comes from the Greek “odes” which means “corner”. In ancient Greece, "ode" was a poem about something sublime composed to be sung individually or in chorus, and with musical accompaniment.

An example of an ode are the national anthems of countries, in which the authors pay homage to the Fatherland and its symbols and are accompanied by musical instruments.

The poem “Ode triumphal” by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, through his heteronym Álvaro de Campos, represents a song of praise and exaltation of modernity. Below is an excerpt from this poem:

“In the painful light of the factory's large electric lamps
I have a fever and I write.
I write gritting my teeth, beast for the beauty of it,
For the beauty of it totally unknown to the ancients.

O wheels, O gears, r-r-r-r-r-r-r eternal!
Strong restrained spasm of the furious machinery!
Raging inside and out,
For all my dissected nerves,
For all the buds out of everything I feel with!


I have dry lips, O great modern noises,
From listening to you too closely,
And my head burns from wanting you to sing with an excess
Expression of all my sensations,
With an excess contemporary with you, O machines!”

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