The Ode / Greek PoetryThe Anacreontic Ode is proof that an ode need not be long and lofty.
The Greek poet Anacreon often wrote odes in praise
of pleasure and drink, a Dithyramb or Skolion. Often the odes
were made up of 7 syllable, rhymed couplets known as Anacreontic couplets. Some
of Anacreon's poems were paraphrased by English poet Abraham Cowley in 1656 in which he attempted to emulate Greek meter.
The main concern of several 17th century poets was that the poem avoid
"piety" by "Christian" poets who would tame the spirit and
make the form worthless. Although the Anacreontic Ode has been defined as a
series of Anacreontic couplets, Richard
Lovelace's The
Grasshopper is
thought to be a translation of an Ode by Anacreon, it does fit the subject matter
but the translation is written in iambic pentameter quatrains with alternating
rhyme.
The Anacreontic
couplet is named for the ancient Greek poet Anacreon who tended to write short lyrical
poems celebrating love and wine, a genre known as Dithyramb.
By 1700 English poet John Phillips defined
the form to be written in 7 syllable rhyming couplets.
The Anacreontic couplet is:
The Anacreontic couplet is:
- stanzaic, written in any number of couplets,
- preferably short. The Anacreontic Ode is often made up of a series of Anacreontic couplets.
- syllabic, 7 syllables for each line.
- rhymed. aa bb etc.
- composed
to celebrate the joys of drinking and love making. Some Anacreontic verse
tends toward the erotic or bawdy.
My thanks to Judi
Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO site.
It is a wonderful resource.
My try at this form:
Elbow Tango (Anacreontic Ode)
Come and share with
me a brew,
or better yet more
than two.
Drink in smiles
before you go
exercising your
elbow.
We can sit on stool
or bench,
drink and flirt with
serving wench
with fine limbs and
rounded ass-
her charms grow with
every glass.
Likely, we'll go
home alone
but fine memories
we'll own.
© Lawrencealot -
March 3, 2014
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