palinode
Americannoun
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a poem in which the poet retracts something said in an earlier poem.
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a recantation.
noun
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a poem in which the poet recants something he has said in a former poem
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rare a recantation
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
She punished him by blindness, and he indited a palinode, explaining that it was not she who went to Troy, but a woman fashioned in her likeness, by Zeus, out of mist and light.
From Adventures Among Books by Andrew Lang
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
His palinode takes the form of a myth.
From Phaedrus by Benjamin Jowett
Socrates or Archilochus would soon have to sing a palinode for the injustice done to lovely Helen, or some misfortune worse than blindness might be fall them.
From Phaedrus by Benjamin Jowett
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
