234:, 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.
666:
47:
127:
230:, 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
437:, however, is considered to be the master of the Latin epigram. 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):
246:, 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
592:, 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.
331:
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
611:
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.
237:
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
373:
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
191:
tradition of epigrams began as poems inscribed on votive offerings at sanctuaries – including statues of athletes – and on funerary monuments, for example
340:, 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:
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258:) selectively and in the process redefined the genre, aligning it with the indigenous Roman tradition of "satura", hexameter
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1309:
Edited by Peter Bing and Jon Bruss, 459–476. Brill’s
Companions in Classical Studies. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
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174:
1291:
Petrain, David. 2012. "The
Archaeology of the Epigrams from the Tabulae Iliacae: Adaptation, Allusion, Alteration."
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192:
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codified the couplet form into a two-line rhymed verse of ten syllables per line with her image couplet poem
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also included couplets throughout her writings. Her best example is in her sequenced sonnet poem entitled
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642:. These were originally labelled epigrams but later identified as image cinquains in the style of
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as its principal model; he copied and adapted Greek models (particularly the contemporary poets
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era – a thousand years of short elegiac texts on every topic under the sun. The
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epigram was not always as short as later examples, and the divide between "epigram" and "
195:. These original epigrams did the same job as a short prose text might have done, but in
401:, who wrote both invectives and love epigrams – his poem 85 is one of the latter.
279:, a compilation from the 10th century AD based on older collections, including those of
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603:. Her poem No. 1534 is a typical example of her eleven poetic epigrams. The novelist
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was also a noted writer of epigrams (a medium suited to a "short-breathed" person).
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Edited by James J. Clauss and
Martine Cuypers, 117–135. Chichester, UK: Blackwell.
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Day, Joseph. 1989. "Rituals in Stone: Early Greek Grave
Epigrams and Monuments."
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During the early 20th century, the rhymed epigram couplet form developed into a
1305:
Rosen, Ralph. 2007. "The
Hellenistic Epigrams on Archilochus and Hipponax." In
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Two successive lines of verse that rhyme with each other are known as a
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Learn what you don't know: one work of (Domitius) Marsus or learned Pedo
1139:
The Poems of J.V.Cunningham (ed
Tomothy Steele) Faber&Faber London
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Quodlibets, Lately Come Over from New
Britaniola, Old Newfoundland
590:
Quodlibets, Lately Come Over from New
Britaniola, Old Newfoundland
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the epigram couplet was often used by the prolific
American poet
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Poets known for their epigrams whose work has been lost include
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includes one book of
Christian epigrams as well as one book of
259:
1338:
1279:
Greek Epigram in the Roman Empire: Martial’s Forgotten Rivals.
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312:
215:
210:
Though modern epigrams are usually thought of as very short,
110:
85:
73:
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I'm astonished, wall, that you haven't collapsed into ruins,
65:
is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or
429:
I don't know, but I feel it happening, and I am tormented.
368:
since you're holding up the weary verse of so many poets.
1307:
Brill’s Companion to Hellenistic Epigram: Down to Philip.
98:
483:
A work isn't long if you can't take anything out of it,
266:. Greek epigram was actually much more diverse, as the
218:" is sometimes indistinct (they share a characteristic
1312:
Sullivan, John P. 1990. "Martial and English Poetry."
619:
image form, with an integral title as the third line.
986:
How to Read a Latin Poem: If You Can't Read Latin Yet
427:
I hate and I love. Maybe you'd like to know why I do?
283:
and Philippus. It contains epigrams ranging from the
1199:. London: Time-Life. p. 6 – via Worldcat.
1013:
Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii
634:
verse form became widely known in the poetry of the
1300:
Martial’s Rome: Empire and the Ideology of Epigram.
485:but you, Cosconius, write even a couplet too long.
461:
Non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis,
1126:Verse / Adelaide Crapsey [electronic text]
1036:
982:
782:: many poets commented on Milton, including Dryden
262:, as practised by (among others) his contemporary
1070:. Newfoundland: Problematic Press. pp. 5–6.
1064:Hayman, Robert; Reynolds, David (February 2013).
830:I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
273:A major source for Greek literary epigram is the
1360:
1321:The Art of variation in the Hellenistic Epigram.
1009:
855:To define the beautiful is to misunderstand it.
745:Now she's at rest – and so am I.
580:The first work of English literature penned in
381:(now lost) was named after the poisonous plant
113:, which typically do not show those qualities.
844:I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.
409:Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
105:tends to distinguish non-poetic epigrams from
1263:The Greek Anthology: Sources and Ascriptions.
976:
541:is an example. The two-line poetic form as a
510:poem was dominated by the poetic epigram and
1354:Sterling epigrams from literature and poetry
1349:(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
1030:
870:Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained.
762:The First in loftiness of thought surpassed;
481:often stretches out over a doublesided page.
467:
459:
451:
443:
415:
407:
354:
346:
155:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
94:has been practiced for over two millennia.
778:("Epigram on Milton", 1688 (Epigram about
771:To make a third she joined the former two.
445:Disce quod ignoras: Marsi doctique Pedonis
348:Admiror, O paries, te non cecidisse ruinis
193:"Go tell it to the Spartans, passersby..."
1099:"RPO -- George Eliot: Brother and Sister"
1003:
833:But Money gives me pleasure all the time.
714:There's this to say for blood and breath;
397:. Authors whose epigrams survive include
175:Learn how and when to remove this message
1333:
1157:"John Dryden "Epigram on Milton" (1688)"
867:This Humanist whom no belief constrained
768:The force of Nature could no farther go:
756:Three Poets, in three distant Ages born,
514:, especially in the translations of the
45:
1171:"When Guns Speak Death Settles Dispute"
1122:
1043:. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 25.
983:William Fitzgerald (21 February 2013).
901:When Guns Speak, Death Settles Disputes
417:Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
14:
1361:
1249:A Companion to Hellenistic Literature.
765:The Next in Majesty; in both the Last.
469:sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis.
453:saepe duplex unum pagina tractat opus.
1302:Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
1265:Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
907:'s epigrammatic title for a clash by
819:Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
759:Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
693:What is an Epigram? a dwarfish whole,
69:statement. The word derives from the
57:devotes much of its text to epigrams.
1123:Crapsey, Adelaide (1 January 1997).
742:Here lies my wife: here let her lie!
659:
356:qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas.
153:adding citations to reliable sources
120:
90:, "to write on, to inscribe"). This
696:Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
24:
1207:
1040:The Epigrams of Sir John Harington
801:John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
717:They give a man a taste for death.
711:But I could never learn the trick.
655:
25:
1395:
1327:
1268:Henriksén, Christer (ed.). 2019.
1247:Bruss, Jon. 2010. "Epigram." In
664:
326:
125:
116:
1323:Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
1286:Martial and the Modern Epigram.
1189:
1163:
1271:A Companion to Ancient Epigram
1149:
1133:
1116:
1091:
1057:
958:
793:He never said a foolish thing,
625:On Seeing Weather-Beaten Trees
13:
1:
951:
708:Some can gaze and not be sick
1238:Resources in other libraries
790:Whose word no man relies on.
787:We have a pretty witty king,
630:By the 1930s, the five-line
319:
80:
7:
1281:Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
1274:. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
1256:Journal of Hellenic Studies
1037:Sir John Harington (2009).
970:Online Etymology Dictionary
919:
683:using the Transwiki process
627:, first published in 1915.
391:, more famous for his epic
10:
1400:
1016:. OUP Oxford. p. 64.
989:. OUP Oxford. p. 81.
884:Love and mankind is grass.
812:I am His Highness' dog at
497:
313:
86:
74:
29:
1319:Tarán, Sonya Lida. 1979.
1233:Resources in your library
894:
796:And never did a wise one.
244:Philippus of Thessalonica
27:Brief memorable statement
1298:Rimell, Victoria. 2008.
1288:New York: Cooper Square.
1010:Kristina Milnor (2014).
387:for its biting wit, and
336:, such as this one from
295:into the compiler's own
38:Not to be confused with
33:Epigram (disambiguation)
1346:Encyclopædia Britannica
926:Admetus (epigrammatist)
858:— Charles Robert Anon (
701:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1277:Nisbet, Gideon. 2003.
1197:The gunfighters (2004)
905:Charles Marion Russell
567:in his fables, and by
533:form, most notably in
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323:, "The Boyish Muse").
84:, "inscription", from
58:
1379:History of literature
941:Epigraph (literature)
936:Epigraph (archeology)
805:Charles II of England
551:Auguries of Innocence
476:
439:
424:
403:
363:
342:
49:
1261:Gow, A. S. F. 1958.
311:epigrams called the
149:improve this section
31:For other uses, see
1314:Classical Antiquity
1284:Nixon, Paul. 1963.
675:is a candidate for
535:William Shakespeare
377:, whose collection
199:. Epigram became a
609:Brother and Sister
518:and the Greek and
504:English literature
285:Hellenistic period
240:Meleager of Gadara
205:Hellenistic period
59:
1214:Library resources
1145:978-0-571-24193-4
1050:978-0-7546-6002-6
1023:978-0-19-968461-8
996:978-0-19-163204-4
849:Nikos Kazantzakis
736:Benjamin Franklin
703:("Epigram", 1809)
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545:was also used by
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16:(Redirected from
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1374:Genres of poetry
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601:Emily Dickinson
597:Victorian times
574:An Essay on Man
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537:'s sonnets.
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915:in America.
909:gunfighters
780:John Milton
776:John Dryden
750:John Dryden
617:fixed verse
520:Roman poets
1363:Categories
1316:9:149–174.
1258:109:22–27.
1109:2006-11-13
952:References
506:the short
492:Cornificia
309:homosexual
226:). In the
87:ἐπιγράφειν
55:Quodlibets
1293:Mnemosyne
965:"epigram"
681:Wikiquote
539:Sonnet 76
502:In early
394:Pharsalia
301:Anthology
297:Byzantine
256:Nicarchus
252:Lucillius
165:June 2022
136:does not
107:aphorisms
81:epígramma
75:ἐπίγραμμα
67:satirical
1181:June 25,
931:Aphorism
920:See also
913:Old West
679:over to
636:Scottish
632:cinquain
565:John Gay
560:Don Juan
399:Catullus
334:graffiti
281:Meleager
40:Epigraph
1219:Epigram
946:Epitaph
911:of the
677:copying
571:in his
527:couplet
512:proverb
508:couplet
498:English
435:Martial
338:Pompeii
264:Juvenal
248:Martial
232:concise
203:in the
157:removed
142:sources
103:sarcasm
63:epigram
1384:Poetry
1216:about
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895:In art
531:sonnet
384:Cicuta
379:Cicuta
305:erotic
260:satire
111:adages
638:poet
563:, by
555:Byron
516:Bible
389:Lucan
220:metre
216:elegy
197:verse
189:Greek
71:Greek
1183:2022
1141:ISBN
1085:2015
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991:ISBN
584:was
291:and
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140:any
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101:or
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