PINDAR'S PURPOSE
(FOS and 10-word Challenges)
'‘Round and ‘round it goes'
until it lodges beneath
the cascade, where it chose
to rest. The rapid's beat
continues to impose
its immutable, fleeting,
challenge that arose
just as the raft set out
to pioneer the shock
of restless waves; to shout
itself beyond the call of clock
- which often has such clout
(a main force on our docket) -
we know what we're about !
Amain among the reason for our fling
as pioneers amidst this wily fray
is to beat out another song to sing
and circle weaker friends along the way !
By Catherine M. LeGault
© 2005 Catherine M. LeGault
(All rights reserved) The Pindaric Ode
This is an ancient Greek form, constructed in three parts.
Created by Pindar out of the traditional forms of Greek tragedy,
the ode is generally defined as a rhymed poem of irregular meter
that praises its subject. The Pindaric Ode uses a three-stanza
structure that is repeated throughout the poem. Therefore, no
matter how long the poem is, the number of total stanzas will be
a multiple of three (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.). The first two stanzas,
the strophe and the antistrophe, both use an identical meter
(i.e. syllable count) and rhyme scheme, but the third stanza,
the epode, uses a unique form from these two. There is not set
rhyme scheme or meter, but whatever rhyme scheme and meter you
set in the first stanza is repeated exactly in the second
stanza, and the third (epode) is different. Throughout the poem
the strophe and antistrophe repeat the same form, and the epode
repeats the same stanza form as the previous epodes. |
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