Epigrams
Epigrams
What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole,Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote those lines about the epigram, a short form of verse that is known for providing wisdom with a bit of a twist at the end.
Sometimes, such as in these lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an epigram can stand alone:
Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.
Other times, such as in this sonnet from Shakespeare, an epigram is part of a larger poem:
Why is my verse so barren of new pride?
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
Watch the video below to learn more about epigrams.
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