Ode
A formal lyric poem, typically addressed to a person or object, that praises, celebrates, or meditates on its subject with elevated language and serious tone. Odes combine personal emotion with formal address, creating intimacy within ceremony.
Real World
Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale' addresses a bird it can never truly reach, using the ode's formal distance to heighten the tension between longing and the impossibility of escaping human mortality.
Exam Focus
Name the specific type of ode (Horatian/Pindaric) and link its formal features to meaning — vague form labels alone will not gain AO2 marks.
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