LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Odes
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The long-lost Odes of Solomon were discovered by J. Rendel Harris in 1909 among a pile of old Syriac manuscripts which had been brought to England from the Middle East and tossed onto shelves in a corner of his office. The manuscript's opening leaves were gone, and of the 42 Odes in the set, Nos. 1 and 2 were missing. No. 2 still is. But No. 1 was already known from a gnostic document in Coptic, in which it had been placed in the mouth of "Mary, mother of Jesus."
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In this lesson you will read odes by Gary Soto and Pablo Neruda, two modern writers who have published books of odes. You will complete a worksheet of activities and try your hand at writing an ode yourself.
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The excellent singing of Irene Papas, who wrote the lines above in her notes for Odes, is supported by a choir and brilliant instrumentation: synthesizer, organ, drums and bouzouki. "Neranzoula, the Small Orange Tree" is a sad lament about the loss of youth, when the winds from the North with their icy hearts have destroyed the tender blossoms and ... the beauty of Neranzoula. "The Dance of the Fire" is composed by Vangelis, and when you listen to this instrumental track you can see the sparkles of a big fire enlightening the flushed faces of the people, you can hear the celebration's racket and you can smell the sweet scent of wine and the spicy smell of broiled meat.
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The odes are full of paradoxical and self-contradictory ideas--the attribution of human experience to the frozen figures on the urn, for instance. But the "Ode on Melancholy" builds its entire theme on an apparent paradox--that pleasure and pain are intimately connected and that sadness rests at the core of joy. How does the language of "Melancholy" strengthen that sense of paradox? What does it mean for trophies to be cloudy, pleasure to be aching, a lover's anger to be soothing, and "wakeful anguish" a thing to be desired?
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Greek mythology - How does Keats use this as a recurring image in his odes? How does he use it as a method of escape? Do you think he is trying to imitate life with art? Look particularly at Ode to Psyche and Ode on a Grecian Urn.
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As is evident in No. 1 above, the Odes are overwhelmingly theocentric. Their focus, their exaltation, is centered on God. He is the "Lord". This term is used in constant echo of the biblical Psalms, often in association with "Father" and "Most High". Consider Ode 5:
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Odes