palinode

American  

[pal-uh-nohd] / ˈpæl əˌnoʊd /

noun

1. a poem in which the poet retracts something said in an earlier poem.

2. a recantation.

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palinode British  

/ ˈpælɪˌnəʊd /

noun

1. a poem in which the poet recants something he has said in a former poem

2. rare a recantation

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Other Word Forms

• palinodist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of palinode

1590–1600; < Late Latin palinōdia < Greek palinōidía a singing again, especially a recanting, equivalent to pálin again, back + ōid ( ḗ ) ode + -ia -ia

Explanation

A palinode is a poem that retracts a feeling expressed in a previous work. If a poet's opinions change, they can use a palinode to reverse their earlier stance, perhaps offering praise where they once offered criticism. If you're embarrassed by the rhyming verse you wrote in first grade about your love of Pokémon, you may want to compose a palinode that recants that sentiment. Palinode is derived from the Greek palinoidia or "poetic retraction," and the roots palin, "back," and oide, "song." Ancient Greeks invented the palinode form, which Chaucer used at the very end of The Canterbury Tales to apologize for its vulgar language and ask for forgiveness.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

palinode

He made a kind of palinode to the “trading justice” later, as other people of his kind have done.

From Adventures Among Books by Andrew Lang

I no longer hear the voice of prudence seducing me, as it did a few days since, to a palinode in complicity with a romantic morning of white mist.

From Youth and Egolatry by Jacob S. (Jacob Sloat) Fassett

It was this which prompted that rather grandiose but still admirable palinode of Christopher North, in August 1834,—"the Animosities are mortal: but the Humanities live for ever,"—an apology which naturally enough pleased Hunt very much.

From Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860 by George Saintsbury

I look for peace in the way that Plato trod, and some day I shall write my palinode in that spirit.

From The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance by Paul Elmer More

Well, what am I to do? accept the verdict and hold my tongue? pen a palinode like Stesichorus? or will you grant an appeal?

From Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 03 by F. G. (Francis George) Fowler