Epigram

An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement. They are among the best examples of the power of poetry to compress insight and wit.

Ancient Greek

The epigram originated in Greece as a form for inscription on a monument or grave, hence the word 'epigram' from the Greek words meaning 'to write on'. Epigrams were thus much shorter than lyric poetry which developed from forms designed for performance accompanied by musical instruments.

One such monument inscription is Simonides's epitaph for the Spartan dead after the Battle of Thermopylae, which can be found in Herodotus' work The Histories (7.228), to the Spartans:

:::::(O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti täde/:::.:::keimetha tois keinon rhämasi peithomenoi.)

Which to keep the poetic context can be translated as:

::Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by:::that here, obedient to their laws we lie

or more literally as:

::Oh foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians:::that here we lie, obeying those words.

Epigrams were not defined by their subject matter, however. The largest surviving collection, the Greek Anthology, contains poems on love, inscriptions dedicating gifts to the gods, moral or philosophical advice, and invective. Nor were epigrams required to be witty (though many, especially invectives and satirical ones, were). The defining characteristics of an epigram were its length, often restricted to a single couplet, and its meter, almost always the elegiac couplet.

Many noted Greek writers are said to have composed epigrams, including some, who, like Plato, Solon and Aeschylus, were more famous for their work in other genres. These however are likely to have been written later. The 'Anthology' contains examples from very early Greek history all the way into the Byzantine period, and even some examples by Christians. Epigrams were also written by women and members of the less privileged classes. Nicarchus and Martial are two epigrammatists from the first century AD.

Ancient Roman

Roman epigrams owe much to their Greek predecessors and contemporaries. Roman epigrams, however, were more often 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, of course, 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. Perhaps you're asking why I do this?:: I don't know, but I feel it happening, and it's torture.

The master of the Latin epigram, however, is Martial. 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.

Poetic epigrams

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said,

::What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole;:::Its body brevity, and wit its soul.

::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:::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

The term is sometimes used for particularly pointed or much-quoted quotations taken from longer works.

In the early part of the 20th century a short image form of the Poetic epigrams was created by Adelaide Crapsey whereby she codified this Couplet form into a two line rhymed verse of ten syllables per line with an integral title as exampled by her image poem published in 1915 ..'ON SEEING WEATHER-BEATEN TREES'.In more recent times the American poet Denis Garrison developed a two line 17 syllable variation of the couplet which he labelled the crystalline. The key component of the latter is euphony.

Non-poetic epigrams

Occasionally, simple and witty statements, though not poetical per se, may also be considered epigrams, such as one attributed to Oscar Wilde: "I can resist everything except temptation." Dorothy Parker's witty one-liners can be considered epigrams. Also, Macdonald Carey's legendary line "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives" can be considered an epigram, as the meaning of life is concisely explained in a simile.

Another good example of a possible epigram,"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."

The term is sometimes used for particularly pointed or much-quoted quotations taken from longer works.

Contemporary Non-Poetic Epigrams: Inspired by the end of the 20th Century, "Epigrams" by Christian Ortega was published in a signed limited edition in the year 2000. The book is now on the web and viewable for free by accessing: http://www.christianortega.com and also by going directly to http://www.iknowwhatyoudidinthe80s.com/IKWYDIT8epigrams.html

Other Definitions

Epigram is the independent student newspaper of the University of Bristol. It is published every two weeks during term time, and covers Bristol student news and sport. It has an all-new features section, E2, and also contains an arts supplement.

The Epigram programming language is a functional programming language with dependent types designed for developing programs which include a proof of the code's correctness alongside the code.

Epigram: Encyclopedia BETA