An ode is a rhymed lyric of Greek origin, in a form of an address, expressing admiration for a person or a certain event. It is generally dignified or exalted in subject and style and is chracterised by lofty sentiments and thoughts. William Collins's "Ode to Simplicity" is a poem praising and glorifying aesthetic and classic simplicity. .
The speaker of the poem is a poet who exalts the simplicity of classic art. It is a 1st person speaker. The addressee of the poem is Simplicity. The poet uses apostrophes: "O thou by Nature taught", or "O chaste unboastful nymph, to thee I call!".
The poem is a kind of manifesto. Its subject is poetry and it is dedicated to Greek and pastoral poetry. The most important elements in Greek literature were harmony, nature, simplicity, beauty and truth, which were considered as equal and necessary important. They believed that something, which is harmonious and simple, is beautiful. The harmony was represented by numbers. The ode begins with the apostrophe to simplicity:.
"O thou by Nature taught.
To breathe her genuine thought,.
In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong;".
In the second stanza the addressee is specified by means of metaphor: "a decent maid,/ In Attic robe arrayed," which refers to simplicity as realized in Attic (Greek) literature. She despised the abundance in art, but is modest and decent. The Simplicity is called a nymph, it was a popular motif in classic literature. In Greek mythology a nymph was a guardian spirit of nature. The poet stresses the connection between Simplicity and Nature.
In the invocation of Simplicity the poet speaks about the honey in Hybla, a city in Sicily famous for its honey and refers to Sophocles's tragedy "Electra": "Soothed sweetly sad Electra's poet's ear". The metaphor "thy green retreat" means Athens, a place, which was a cradle of simple classical literature.
