Elegy is one of the oldest and most popular genres of lyrics, has not only a distinctively rich history, but is also represented in all the literature of the world.

At first glance, it seems that the elegy occupies only an intermediate position between the epic and the lyrics in the modern sense of these words. The epic poem, as a rule, has an objective character: the poet talks about the events of the past in the third person and his personality remains outside the figures of the characters. What makes elegy so special in this case? First of all, a lyrical hero. He is trying to express his inner world and talk about his personal experiences. At the same time, the poet often turns to traditional topics and sets out general truths.

Ode is a genre of lyrics that expresses sublime feelings caused by important historical events and the activities of prominent individuals. In ancient Greece, an ode was called a choral song. The odes created by Pindar (c. 544-518 BCE), reigned the winners of sports competitions. The odes of the Roman poet Horace (65-8 BC) already extolled the emperor Augustus, affirmed the political and religious-ethical ideas of the principal. In Western Europe, the revival of the ode took place in the work of the French poet P. Ronsard (1524-1585), reached the peak in F. Malherbe (1555-1628), who created the heroic genre and became the founder of the classic ode, demanded a harmonious unity of all parts of this lyric-epic works.

Our site contains the best collections of works in the genre "ELEGIES & ODES" in audio format. Enjoy listening; leave your comments and impressions.