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palinode

/ˈpæləˌnoʊd/
IPA guide

Other forms: palinodes

A palinode is a poem that retracts a feeling expressed in a previous work. If a poet's opinions change, they can use a palinode to reverse their earlier stance, perhaps offering praise where they once offered criticism.

If you're embarrassed by the rhyming verse you wrote in first grade about your love of Pokémon, you may want to compose a palinode that recants that sentiment. Palinode is derived from the Greek palinoidia or "poetic retraction," and the roots palin, "back," and oide, "song." Ancient Greeks invented the palinode form, which Chaucer used at the very end of The Canterbury Tales to apologize for its vulgar language and ask for forgiveness.

Definitions of palinode
  1. noun
    a poem that takes back or retracts something said in an earlier poem
  2. noun
    a retraction or withdrawal of a previous statement
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