Antistrophe ( grc, ἀντιστροφή, "a turning back") is the portion of an
ode sung by the chorus in its returning movement from west to east, in response to the
strophe, which was sung from east to west.
Characteristics
Usage as a literary device
It has the nature of a reply and balances the effect of the
strophe. Thus, in
Gray's ode called "The Progress of Poesy" (excerpt below), the strophe, which dwelt in triumphant accents on the beauty, power and ecstasy verse, is answered by the antistrophe, in a depressed and melancholy key:
When the sections of the chorus have ended their responses, they unite and close in the
epode, thus exemplifying the triple form, in which the ancient sacred hymns of Greece were coined, from the days of
Stesichorus onwards. As
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
says: "
strophe, antistrophe and
epode were a kind of
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
framed for the music then used with the chorus that sang".
Other semantic usage
''Antistrophe'' was also a kind of ancient
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, wherein dancers stepped sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left, still doubling their turns or conversions. The motion toward the left, they called ''antistrophe'', from ''ὰντὶ'', "against", and ''στροφὴ'', of ''στρέφω'', "I turn".
References
Attribution:
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{{Greek dances
Ancient Greek dances
Poetic forms