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palinode

 
Dictionary: pal·i·node   (păl'ə-nōd') pronunciation
n.
  1. A poem in which the author retracts something said in a previous poem.
  2. A formal statement of retraction.

[From Late Latin palinōdia, from Greek palinōidiā : palin, again + ōidē, song; see parody.]


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Wordsmith Words: palinode
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(PAL-uh-noad) pronunciation

noun
A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem.

Etymology
From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song). It's the same palin that shows up in the word palindrome. Here's a palindromic web address: wordsmith.org/words/sdrow/gro.htimsdrow//:ptth ]
The illustrator and humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) once wrote a poem called The Purple Cow:
I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one; But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.
The poem became so popular and he became so closely linked with this single quatrain that he later wrote a palinode:
Confession: and a Portrait, Too, Upon a Background that I Rue!
Oh, yes, I wrote 'The Purple Cow,' I'm sorry now I wrote it! But I can tell you anyhow, I'll kill you if you quote it.
It was the same Burgess who coined the word, blurb.

Usage
"The more lighthearted palinodes were more successful, such as Geoff Horton's recantation of his youthful view that a martini should be shaken rather than stirred." — Jaspitos; I Take It Back; The Spectator (London, UK); Jan 24, 2004.


Thesaurus: palinode
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Literary Dictionary: palinode
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palinode, a poem or song retracting some earlier statement by the poet. A notable example in English is Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women, written to recant his earlier defamation of women in Troilus and Criseyde.

Obscure Words: palinode
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1) an ode or song recanting or retracting something in an earlier poem
2) a statement retraction
Poetry Glossary: Palinode or Palinody
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A poem in which the poet contradicts or retracts something in an earlier poem.

Wikipedia: Palinode
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Geoffrey Chaucer was an exponent of the palinode

A palinode or palinody is an ode in which the writer retracts a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. The first recorded use of a palinode is in a poem by Stesichorus in the 7th century BC. Here he retracts his earlier statement that the Trojan War was all the fault of Helen.[citation needed]

The word comes from the Greek παλιν ("palin", meaning 'again') and ωδη ("song"); the Latin equivalent "recantation" is an exact calque ("re-" meaning 'again' and "cant-" meaning 'sing').

It can also be a recantation of a defamatory statement in Scots Law.

Examples

Chaucer's Retraction is one example of a palinode.

Late in his life, Gelett Burgess wrote this of his famous "Purple Cow":

Ah, yes! I wrote the purple cow,
I’m sorry now I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I’ll kill you if you quote it!

Ogden Nash wrote a palinode in retaliation to his most famous poem about the dandiness of candy, and quickness of liquor:

Nothing makes me sicker
than liquor
and candy
is too expandy

Palinodes have also been created by many medieval writers such as Augustine, Bede, Giraldus Cambrensis, Jean de Meun and others.


 
 
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd Read more
Poetry Glossary. Copyright © 2007, ILOVEPOETRY, Inc, All Rights Reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Palinode" Read more