Definition and Examples of Epigram – Literary Terms

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Definition and Examples of Epigram – Literary Terms

Epigram: 

In POETRY and PROSE, any terse, witty, pointed saying. Epigrams often pair opposing or contradictory ideas, for example, the anonymous “She knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing" or Oscar Wilde's “I can resist everything except temptation.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge defined epigram as he wrote one:

What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole;

Its body brevity and wit its soul.

Originally an epigram meant an inscription, or epitaph, usually in verse, on a tomb. Later it came to mean a short poem that compressed meaning and expression in the manner of an inscription. Today epigram refers to a saying, a COUPLET, or a QUATRAIN that either stands alone or is part of a larger work.

For instance, this couplet from a poem by Lady Mary Wortley Montague is an epigram:

Satire should, like a polished razor keen,

Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen.

Epigrams differ from APHORISMS in that aphorisms express truths, offer morals, or give advice and are not barbed or satiric.

See also:

APHORISM.

Tags: epigram definition, epigram examples, epigram meaning, what is an epigram