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How did the English poet Abraham Cowley change the Pindaric ode form?

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Hear a reading of ancient Greek poet Pindar's first Olympic ode, commissioned by Sicilian prince Hiero — Pindar Pindar's first Olympic ode, its context, and the significance of the victory ode, or epinicion.

Abraham Cowley adapted the Pindaric ode by introducing a looser, irregular structure that diverged significantly from the original Greek form. While the traditional Pindaric ode relies on a strict triadic structure—consisting of a strophe, an antistrophe, and an epode—Cowley’s version, often called the "Cowleyan" or "pseudo-Pindaric" ode, abandoned this requirement.12

In his Pindarique Odes (1656), Cowley utilized irregular rhyme schemes and capriciously varied the lengths of lines and stanzas. Rather than reproducing the precise metrical harmony of Pindar’s choral performances, Cowley’s approach aimed to suggest the Greek poet's enthusiastic manner through extravagant poetic conceits and uneven verse. This innovation created a new category of irregular ode that became highly influential in English literature, paving the way for later poets such as John Dryden and William Wordsworth to explore greater freedom in their own odes.312