1. Poems of Celebration

2.   Odes can:  Celebrate  Commemorate  Meditate on people, events, or, in Neruda’s case, ordinary objects It’s not true that all poems are depressing!

3.   Originally  Formally structured  Written for choruses in Greek plays to sing or chant A Brief History of the Ode

4.   Chorus speaks and moves left, speaks again and moves right, finishes with a third response  Left = strophe Same stanza form  Right = antistrophe  Final response = epode = different form  Pindaric odes were celebratory and heroic Pindaric Odes

5.  Excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed Example:

6.   Short lyric poems (lyric poems express thought or feelings rather than telling a story)  Stanzas of 2-4 lines  In the manner of the Roman poet Horace  intimate and reflective rather than celebratory and heroic  Often addressed to a friend and deal with friendship, love, and the practice of poetry. Horatian Ode

7.   An extract from 'Ode to a Nightingale' by John Keats (1795-1821)  My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains (A) My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, (B) Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains (A) One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: (B) 'Tis not through envy of the happy lot, (C) But being too happy in thy happiness,- (D) That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, (E) In some melodious plot (C) Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, (D) Singest of summer in full-throated ease. (E) Example:

8.   Used by modern poets such as Neruda  Modern odes may be humorous, but still commemorate the beauty poets find in unexpected places  With the Cowleyan Ode, the ode is freed from formal constraints of rhyme and meter and stanza pattern  Neruda uses short-lined free verse for his odes Cowleyan Ode

9.   Listen to the odes Neruda’s Odes

10.  Ode to the Watermelon

11.   What is he comparing the watermelon to?  What is the relationship between the people in the poem and the watermelon like? Support ideas with text.  How does the poem move, progress, from beginning to end?  How would you define the tone and mood of this poem?

12.  Ode to a Chestnut on the Ground

13.   What is different about the form of address Neruda uses in this poem? How does he address the chestnut? How is this similar to, different from the last poem, and how does the mood of the poem change with this choice?  Can you find any humor in this poem?  How does the poem move from beginning to end?  Is the chestnut “just a seed,” or is it more? Support your ideas with text.

14.  Ode to the Book (I)

15.   What do you make of this poem? How is it similar to or different from the others?  What is the book, according to Neruda? List all the attributes of the book and draw a conclusion.

16.   Which ode is your favorite and why?  How are these poems similar to and different from the other poems we’ve read by Neruda so far? Reflection

17.   Your turn! Using one of Neruda’s odes as a model, choose your own ordinary object to celebrate!  Like Neruda, try using short-lined free verse  Like Neruda,  Like Neruda, you may include humor, but also celebrate the beauty you have found in an unexpected place  Due: Next Friday Invention: Write and illustrate your own Ode