Okuzeka
Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Ode

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCommon term

In literature, ode means: A lyric poem that addresses and praises a person, object, idea, or event in a serious, thoughtful, and often elevated style.

In Turkish: övgü şiiri (od)

How it is used

Used in poetry study and literary criticism for formal or modern poems of praise and reflection. An ode may honor something grand, ordinary, personal, or public.

Example sentences

  1. For the department reading, she wrote an ode to the night bus, turning an ordinary commute into a subject worthy of praise.

    Here, ode names a poem that elevates a modest everyday subject through direct praise and reflective attention.

  2. In class, we compared the ode with the elegy and saw that admiration, rather than grief, shapes its movement and tone.

    In this sentence, the term refers to a poetic form organized by praise, helping distinguish it from a poem centered on mourning.

Common collocations

  • write an ode
  • Pindaric ode
  • modern ode
  • ode to nature
  • poetryLiterary writing arranged in lines that uses rhythm, sound, imagery and often rhyme to express feelings and ideas in a concentrated way.
  • poemA single piece of writing in lines, often with a regular rhythm or rhyme, that expresses an experience, feeling or idea through carefully chosen language.

More terms: Poetry

Practise with graded reading

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