Horace: Odes and Poetry Literary Elements

Odes and poems

English

The action described in ‘’Ode IV’’ takes place during winter near a large body of water, most likely the sea.

‘’Ode I’’ is told from the perspective of a third person objective point of view.

The tone and mood in ‘’Ode IV’’ is a depressing and violent one, in tune with the major theme of the ode, death.

In ‘’Ode V’’ the protagonist is the ancient character Pyrrha while the antagonist is presented as being her husband, the man who cheated on her and who broke her heart.

The major conflict in ‘’Ode VIII’’ is represented by the clash of power between men and women. In this ode in particular, women are described as being more powerful than men because they can influence a man’s feelings and emotions and thus make him act in a way which undermines his power.

"Ode XXV’’ reaches its climax when the narrator admits he wishes to die so he could be reunited with the woman he once loved.

We find a foreshadowing element in the ‘’Ode XXIII’’ when the narrator compares young women with fawns, quickly running to the mountains in search of protection. This foreshadows the later description of reluctance when it comes to getting married and the ways in which many women try to escape marriage by finding refuge in other people or places.

We find an understatement in ‘’Ode I’’, in the beginning of which the narrator claims that those who enjoy other type of entertainment which is not poetry are not worth mentioning. His statement in the first stanza is then proved to be an understatement at the end of the poem when the narrator changes his opinion and claims that every person has the right to choose the type of entertainment they want and that every form is valid and has value.

We find an allusion in ‘’Ode XII’’ in which the narrator writes about women and alludes to the practice of forcing women to marry at a young age and the practice of refusing to listen to their wishes when it comes to their decision to remain unmarried or to choose for themselves a partner they love.

In ‘’Ode VIII’’ the narrator talks about a woman named Lydia who influenced the life of a man named Sybaris to the point where the life of the man was destroyed completely. Through this, the narrator chooses to portray women as having a great power over the life of men in general, who find themselves unable to resist the charms of a woman they love. This ode also portrays women in a negative manner, as people able to cause a great deal of pain and suffering.

A paradoxical idea appears in ‘’Ode XIII’’ in which, at least in the first stanza’’, the narrator praises a woman named Lydia and calls her as being an incredible woman who should be praised by everyone. Paradoxically, the narrator changes his opinion about Lydia on the next stanza, when he claims that just by looking at her he feels as if he is becoming sick and experiences physical pain.

In ‘’Ode XXVI’’, the narrator draws a parallel between the creative process and a dangerous sea travel a person may experience at one point in their lives. This parallel is used here to show just how difficult the creative process can be and how the author usually exposes himself to various dangers which other do not have to face.

We find a personification in the ‘’Ode XVI’’ in the line "It was rage that destroyed Thyestes’’.

Because the pieces analyzes are odes and poems, there are no dramatic devices which can be recognized and analyzed.