The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode

“The Progress of Poesy” is one of the most well-known Pindaric odes in the English language. Though the form is fairly loose in English, due to the difficulty of translating ancient Greek meter and cadences into another language, the Pindaric ode must include three sections called the strophe, antistrophe, and epode. Each of Gray’s sections consist of three stanzas of 12, 12, and 17 lines. The two first two stanzas of each section follow and irregular ABBACCDDEEFF rhyme scheme, while the concluding stanza of each section follows an irregular AABBACCDEDEFGFGHH rhyme scheme. The poem’s meter is also irregular and shifts between iambic tetrameter (four feet of two syllables in a unstressed, stressed pattern) and iambic pentameter (five of the same unstressed, stressed feet). Some of Gray’s lines, such as “Slow melting strains their Queen’s approach declare” (Line 36), attempt to mimic the ancient Greek rhythmic use of repeated consonant and vowel (assonant) sounds.

The strophe, in a Greek ode, establishes the poem’s themes and conceits. In some traditions, the strophe can consist of two or more lines that recur throughout the poem. This is rarely the case in Pindaric odes, however.