Epigram

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For other uses, see Epigram (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Epigraph.

Robert Hayman's 1628 book Quodlibets devotes much of its text to epigrams.

An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising

or satirical statement. The word is derived from
the Greek ἐπίγραμμα epigramma 'inscription' from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein 'to write on,
to inscribe',[1] and the literary device has been employed for over two millennia.
The presence of wit or sarcasm tends to distinguish non-poetic epigrams
from aphorisms and adages, which tend to lack those qualities.

Contents

 1Ancient Greek
 2Ancient Roman
 3English
 4Poetic epigrams
 5See also
 6Notes
 7Further reading
 8External links

Ancient Greek[edit]
The Greek tradition of epigrams began as poems inscribed on votive offerings at
sanctuaries – including statues of athletes – and on funerary monuments, for
example "Go tell it to the Spartans, passersby...". These original epigrams did the same
job as a short prose text might have done, but in verse. Epigram became a literary
genre in the Hellenistic period, probably developing out of scholarly collections of
inscriptional epigrams.
Though modern epigrams are usually thought of as very short, Greek literary epigram
was not always as short as later examples, and the divide between "epigram" and
"elegy" is sometimes indistinct (they share a characteristic metre, elegiac couplets). In
the classical period, the clear distinction between them was that epigrams were
inscribed and meant to be read, while elegies were recited and meant to be heard.
Some elegies could be quite short, but only public epigrams were longer than ten lines.
All the same, the origin of epigram in inscription exerted a residual pressure to keep
things concise, even when they were recited in Hellenistic times. Many of the
characteristic types of literary epigram look back to inscriptional contexts, particularly
funerary epigram, which in the Hellenistic era becomes a literary exercise. Many
"sympotic" epigrams combine sympotic and funerary elements – they tell their readers
(or listeners) to drink and live for today because life is short. Generally, any theme found
in classical elegies could be and were adapted for later literary epigrams.
Hellenistic epigrams are also thought of as having a "point" – that is, the poem ends in a
punchline or satirical twist. By no means do all Greek epigrams behave this way; many
are simply descriptive, but Meleager of Gadara and Philippus of Thessalonica, the first
comprehensive anthologists, preferred the short and witty epigram. Since their
collections helped form knowledge of the genre in Rome and then later throughout
Europe, Epigram came to be associated with 'point', especially because the European
epigram tradition takes the Latin poet Martial as its principal model; he copied and
adapted Greek models (particularly the contemporary poets Lucillius and Nicarchus)
selectively and in the process redefined the genre, aligning it with the indigenous
Roman tradition of 'satura', hexameter satire, as practised by (among others) his
contemporary Juvenal. Greek epigram was actually much more diverse, as the Milan
Papyrus now indicates.
A major source for Greek literary epigram is the Greek Anthology, a compilation from
the 10th century AD based on older collections, including those of Meleager and
Philippus. It contains epigrams ranging from the Hellenistic period through the Imperial
period and Late Antiquity into the compiler's own Byzantine era – a thousand years of
short elegiac texts on every topic under the sun. The Anthology includes one book of
Christian epigrams as well as one book of erotic and amorous homosexual epigrams
called the Μοῦσα Παιδικἠ (Mousa Paidike, "The Boyish Muse").

Ancient Roman[edit]
Roman epigrams owe much to their Greek predecessors and contemporaries. Roman
epigrams, however, were often more satirical than Greek ones, and at times used
obscene language for effect. Latin epigrams could be composed as inscriptions
or graffiti, such as this one from Pompeii, which exists in several versions and seems
from its inexact meter to have been composed by a less educated person. Its content
makes it clear how popular such poems were:
Admiror, O paries, te non cecidisse ruinis
qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas.
I'm astonished, wall, that you haven't collapsed into ruins,
since you're holding up the weary verse of so many poets.
However, in the literary world, epigrams were most often gifts to patrons
or entertaining verse to be published, not inscriptions. Many Roman
writers seem to have composed epigrams, including Domitius Marsus,
whose collection Cicuta (now lost) was named after the poisonous
plant Cicuta for its biting wit, and Lucan, more famous for his
epic Pharsalia. Authors whose epigrams survive include Catullus, who
wrote both invectives and love epigrams – his poem 85 is one of the
latter.
Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
I hate and I love. Maybe you'd like to know why I do?
I don't know, but I feel it happening, and I am tormented.
Martial, however, is considered to be the master of the
Latin epigram.[2][3][4] His technique relies heavily on the
satirical poem with a joke in the last line, thus drawing him
closer to the modern idea of epigram as a genre. Here he
defines his genre against a (probably fictional) critic (in the
latter half of 2.77):
Disce quod ignoras: Marsi doctique Pedonis
saepe duplex unum pagina tractat opus.
Non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis,
sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis.
Learn what you don't know: one work of (Domitius) Marsus or learned Pedo
often stretches out over a doublesided page.
A work isn't long if you can't take anything out of it,
but you, Cosconius, write even a couplet too long.
Poets known for their
epigrams whose work has
been lost include Cornificia.

English[edit]
In early English literature the
short couplet poem was
dominated by the poetic
epigram and proverb,
especially in the translations
of the Bible and the Greek
and Roman poets.
Since 1600, two successive
lines of verse that rhyme with
each other, known as
a couplet featured as a part of
the longer sonnet form, most
notably in William
Shakespeare's sonnets. Sonn
et 76 is an excellent example.
The two line poetic form as
a closed couplet was also
used by William Blake in his
poem Auguries of Innocence,
and also by Byron in his
poem Don Juan, by John
Gay in his fables and
by Alexander Pope in his An
Essay on Man.
The first work of English
literature penned in North
America was Robert
Hayman's Quodlibets, Lately
Come Over from New
Britaniola, Old
Newfoundland, which is a
collection of over 300
epigrams, many of which do
not conform to the two-line
rule or trend. While the
collection was written
between 1618 and 1628 in
what is now Harbour Grace,
Newfoundland, it was
published shortly after his
return to Britain.[5]
In Victorian times the epigram
couplet was often used by the
prolific American poet Emily
Dickinson. Her poem No.
1534 is a typical example of
her eleven poetic epigrams.
The novelist George Eliot also
included couplets throughout
her writings. Her best
 example is in her sequenced
sonnet poem entitled Brother
and Sister[6] in which each of
the eleven sequenced sonnet
ends with a couplet. In her
sonnets, the preceding lead-
in-line, to the couplet ending
of each, could be thought of
as a title for the couplet, as is
shown in Sonnet VIII of the
sequence.
During the early 20th century,
the rhymed epigram couplet
form developed into a fixed
verse image form, with an
integral title as the third
line. Adelaide
Crapsey codified the couplet
form into a two line rhymed
verse of ten syllables per line
with her image couplet
poem On Seeing Weather-
Beaten Trees[7] first published
in 1915.
By the 1930s, the five-
line cinquain verse form
became widely known in the
poetry of
the Scottish poet William
Soutar. These were originally
labelled epigrams but later
identified as image cinquains
in the style of Adelaide
Crapsey.
J. V. Cunningham was also a
noted writer of epigrams, (a
medium suited to a 'short-
breathed' person).[8]

Poetic epigrams[edit]
What is an Epigram? a dwarfish whole,
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("Epigram", 1809)
Some can gaze and not be sick
But I could never learn the trick.
There's this to say for blood and breath;
They give a man a taste for death.
— A. E. Housman
Little strokes
Fell great oaks.
— Benjamin Franklin
Here lies my wife: here let her lie!
Now she's at rest – and so am I.
— John Dryden
Three Poets, in three distant Ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The First in loftiness of thought surpassed;
The Next in Majesty; in both the Last.
The force of Nature could no farther go:
To make a third she joined the former two.
— John Dryden ("Epigram on Milton", 1688 (Epigram about John Milton: many
poets commented on Milton, including Dryden [9][circular reference]))[10][circular reference][11]
We have a pretty witty king,
Whose word no man relies on.
He never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.
— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (epigram about Charles II of England)[12]
[circular reference]

I am His Highness' dog at Kew;

Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
— Alexander Pope
I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
But Money gives me pleasure all the time.
— Hilaire Belloc
I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.
— Nikos Kazantzakis
To define the beautiful is to misunderstand it.
— Charles Robert Anon (Fernando Pessoa)
This Humanist whom no belief constrained
Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained.
— J.V. Cunningham
All things pass
Love and mankind is grass.
— Stevie Smith