How to Format Ode Poems

Read poems, odes and lyrics. Develop your understanding on how poems use language to convey emotion and description. For example, review Keat's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" or "Ode to a Nightingale" for inspiration.

Assess what style of ode you want to write. The Pindaric Ode form consists of three stanzas. The first two stanzas use the same rhythm and rhyme sequence, while the third stanza uses a different form. This format is then repeated throughout the ode for each trio of verses. More simplistically, a Horace ode repeats the same structure for each stanza. Finally, a irregular ode consists of stanzas but there is not distinctive structure or repetition throughout.

Identify the subject matter you want to write about in your ode. It should be celebratory in style, or pay tribute to something particularly something or someone you have admiration for.

Write the first stanza of the ode. Make it between four and six lines long. Communicate one idea every few lines. But each idea should be very description and use adjectives or draw similarities between things. The ode should give the idea life and color.

Personify objects; in other words give an object a personality, thoughts or feelings. For example, "the sunset smiled at me," gives the sun a human characteristic. You could also imagine you were talking to an object like a human and use this thought in your ode, such as "Oh red wine stain! How I wish I had but a drop of bleach to rid you!"