Odes

Ode: There are two main types of odes: Horatian and Pindaric. Horatian odes typically have several stanzas that have the same meter and rhyming schemes, with each line rhyming with one other line in the stanza. A Pindaric ode contains three stanzas, the first two of the same form chosen by the author, and the last one being different.

The following ode was written by Mark Twain, who many of you probably know from prior English courses. He is also the author of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". 

Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots

And did young Stephen sicken,
And did young Stephen die?
And did the sad hearts thicken,
And did the mourners cry?

No; such was not the fate of  Young Stephen Dowling Bots;
Though sad hearts round him thickened,
'Twas not from sickness' shots.

No whooping-cough did rack his frame,
Nor measles drear, with spots;
Not these impaired the sacred name
Of Stephen Dowling Bots.

Despised love struck not with woe
That head of curly knots,
Nor stomach troubles laid him low,
Young Stephen Dowling Bots.

O no. Then list with tearful eye,
Whilst I his fate do tell.
His soul did from this cold world fly,
By falling down a well.

They got him out and emptied him;
Alas it was too late;
His spirit was gone for to sport aloft
In the realms of the good and great. 

This next ode was written by Alexander Pope, a famous "dead white male poet" from the 18th century. 

Dead white male poet (Alexander Pope)

Ode on Solitude (analyze this one!)

Happy the man, whose wish and care 
A few paternal acres bound, 
Content to breathe his native air, 
In his own ground. 

Whose heards with milk, whose fields with bread, 
Whose flocks supply him with attire, 
Whose trees in summer yield him shade, 
In winter fire. 

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find 
Hours, days, and years slide soft away, 
In health of body, peace of mind, 
Quiet by day, 

Sound sleep by night; study and ease 
Together mix'd; sweet recreation, 
And innocence, which most does please, 
With meditation. 

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; 
Thus unlamented let me dye; 
Steal from the world, and not a stone 
Tell where I lye. 

Immediately obvious to me is the calm and peaceful atmosphere that Pope creates within the poem. His diction totally and entirely immerses the reader in the relaxing life that the man lives.  From the man’s “health of body” and “peace of mind,” to his “sound sleep” and “study and ease/ together mix’d”, the man is depicted by Pope to be in complete harmony.

While the man is completely self-sustained from the “heards with milk, “fields with bread,” and “flocks,” the man lives a life of privacy and isolation. It isn’t outright stated whether or not the isolation is by choice, though the poem seems to imply that this is likely the case. The “hours, days, and years slide soft away” despite his lack of companionship, indicating that he is not unhappy with his lifestyle choice. The consonance in the phrase, “slide soft away,” draws particular attention to the fact that time does not seem to have a hold on this man. Also, the assonance in the last stanza in the phrase, “Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;/ Thus unlamented let me dye,” again highlights the way the man in the poem lives in seclusion. So while he does live away from everybody else, he mentions he wants to die “unlamented.” He wishes for others to not be saddened by his passing when the time comes, and by extension to not be troubled by his lack of human contact.

The man portrayed in this poem by Pope truly lives a satisfied life, as exemplified by Pope’s use of diction.