Writing Poetry - How To Write An Ode

By Author: Fred Price
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If you are interested in writing poetry and you are looking into how to write an ode hopefully you will find this article informative and useful in helping you put one together.
An ode is a poem that is written to express affection and/or admiration for a person, place, accomplishment or thing. By writing an ode you lavish praise on your subject so that the reader gets an idea of why it is worth all the attention you are giving it through your words.
Before writing an ode it is a good idea to stop and think about what you want to write about and how long you want it to be because there is no maximum limit. Odes are known for being very long.
To create the proper structure when writing your ode you can focus on writing 10 lines per verse that follow a particular rhythm and particular lines rhyme with each other. For example, it can follow a rhythm that has an ab ab cd ec de beat.
Let me explain a little more. Using the format ab ab cd ec de you write the first and second line of your ode then you write the third line which must rhyme with the first line. The aim is to sometimes rhyme every other line or ...
... every three lines. The second line and fourth line rhyme then you write the fifth and sixth line. The eighth line rhymes with the sixth line. That is one verse of the ode with 10 lines then you move on to the next verse making sure you follow the same rhythm. Getting the third line rhyming with the first line then the second line has to rhyme with the fourth line, line six rhymes with line nine and line seven with line 10.
Here is an example:
ab ab cd ec de
An Ode To EzineArticles
There's a place to write articles and drive visitors to your site (a)
As a site owner it was a life saver and the only place to go (b)
A website so different it shone so bright (a - 3rd line rhymes with first)
Driving people to products making money from their flow (b - second and fourth line rhyme)
Then they got a little stricter took affiliate links out (c)
Lost anchor links in articles when search engines made a fuss (d)
Provided lessons on writing articles that read well and were strong (e)
Helped you excel as a writer so you had some clout (c - line 8 rhymes with line 5)
If you weren't writing articles you left money on the table it was enough to make you cuss (d - line 6 rhymes with line 9)
EzineArticles has grown stronger, survived updates and is still banging the article gong (e - line7 rhymes with line 10)
Not particularly romantic but that is one full verse and hopefully that is enough to show you how writing an ode works. Just remember that an ode is written for someone or something you want to shout out loud about and share how truly worthy of praise you believe them to be.
Here are some well known odes that you may want to search for and read. Look out for the way they are put together. Of course some people are creative and don't follow that rhythm but this is the technique I have been taught and hopefully it has given you a clear outline of how to write an ode in poetry.
Ode to a nightingale by John Keats
Imitations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
Ode to autumn by John Keats
Ode to the confederate dead - Allen Tate
Ode to the west wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley
This is just one example of how to write an ode and of course there are different types of ode that you may want to look up. For example the final ode mentioned above by Percy Bysshe Shelley uses three lines. The first and third line rhyme and the ode was written so that its rhythm follows a pattern of 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 then it goes to the next verse 3, 3, 3, 3, 2. Search for the poem to read it yourself.
You can write an ode to be as long or as short as you like and feel free to be creative with your rhyming but just keep it in some sort of pattern. I find following the ab ab cd ec de serves me well and as my writing journey continues and my skills improve I will adapt and do things differently. That is the true joy of writing poetry and knowing how to write an ode - you can follow your own creative genius.
I am having fun learning how to become a professional creative non fiction and flash fiction writer as well as a poet. I am sharing what I learn in as basic a way as I can because I believe sometimes writing poetry is made to seem difficult and the terminology used can confuse. I believe I can achieve the same goal using plain English!

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