strophe

American  

[stroh-fee] / ˈstroʊ fi /

noun

1. the part of an ancient Greek choral ode sung by the chorus when moving from right to left.

2. the movement performed by the chorus during the singing of this part.

3. the first of the three series of lines forming the divisions of each section of a Pindaric ode.

4. (in modern poetry) any separate section or extended movement in a poem, distinguished from a stanza in that it does not follow a regularly repeated pattern.

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strophe British  

/ ˈstrəʊfɪ /

noun

1. 1. the first of two movements made by a chorus during the performance of a choral ode

   2. the first part of a choral ode sung during this movement

2. (in classical verse) the first division of the threefold structure of a Pindaric ode

3. the first of two metrical systems used alternately within a poem

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Related Words

See verse.

Etymology

Origin of strophe

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Greek strophḗ “a twist, turning about,” akin to stréphein “to turn”; strepto-

Example Sentences

This is the center of the middle strophe of these three songs, the creation of a third person by a couple.

From New York Times • Sep. 7, 2021

Ode one/nine is written in Alcaics, a four-lined, largely dactylic strophe named after the Greek poet Alcaeus: it's the commonest verse-form in the Odes, a flexible form-for-all-seasons.

From The Guardian • Jul. 30, 2012

In his mind, at these unkind words, he heard the dwindling strophe of the heart's small drum, tapping into silence up an empty street.

From Time Magazine Archive

First: the catalogue, which seems to be completed in the first strophe with the climactic iyw 8�, is resumed after an interval of three strophes.

From Time Magazine Archive

The deceased was the tragic hero, the survivors the innocent victims; there was the omnipresence of the deity, strophe and antistrophe of the chorus of mourners led by the preacher.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Related Words

• verse