Does and Do Nots for Writing and 'Ode to...'

I want to write an Ode, but have very little experience in this area. What is okay and what is bad? How is an Ode formatted, or is it just like writing other poems.

Wikipedia has an overview of the style, but I would take that as more of a starting guide than anything.

I would also read odes, to get a feel of what different people have used across time. You could find general conventions that seem to make a poem an "ode" to you, or you can discover there isn't really any set format and you can basically do what you want.

In general, I'd assume what makes an ode good is what makes any other poem good (which changes from poet to poet), but for me I'd look for something that focuses more on the specifics of how nice the thing is, instead of the general sayings that end up not meaning anything because you can say them about three quarters of the things in the known universe.

Good luck!

Okay, I gots some better ideas now ion how to writ this evasive work of literature.

If you'd like to see a humorous example of an ode, there's this: Ode to my toilet.

Thanks for sharing that! My mood points just went up about 28, maybe 30!