Epigram - Evie

An Epigram is a short poem usually with a twist at the end. It is most commonly found written in a verse form, also written as a couplet or quatrain or can be just a one lined phrase. The subject of an Epigram is usually singular. The word Epigram comes from the Greek word ‘Epigraphien’ meaning ‘to write on, inscribe’. An Epigram was originally formed as a reference to the inscriptions on the stone monuments in ancient Greece. The Epigram was very popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth century England due to many poets like John Donne, Robert Herrick and Ben Jonson. Epigrams were used as mainly as expressions of social criticism or political satire. Jane Wilde, an Irish poet, believed that Epigrams were much better than an argumentative speech.

 

 

Candy

Is dandy,

But liquor

Is quicker

An Epigram by Ogden Nash called ‘ice breaking’.

 

Bent and battered, the live oaks have through ages survived

until developed senses of modern man ripped them up still alive.

 

Time rolls out down wide grassy lawns

yet within these suburbs a dearth of it is spawned.

 

Such volunteers are said to advocate

but to the law, they instead frustrate.