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
Derived 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.
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 Fowler, F. G. (Francis George)
He made a kind of palinode to the “trading justice” later, as other people of his kind have done.
From Adventures Among Books by Lang, Andrew
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 Fassett, Jacob S. (Jacob Sloat)
When we do our full duty to him we will, northerners and southerners alike, agree that Whittier’s palinode ought to have gone full circle before it paused.
From The Brothers' War by Reed, John Calvin
XLIV. may be accepted as a palinode for XLIII.
From Sonnets by Symonds, John Addington
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
