Literary Devices-Epigram-Figures of Speech-Poetic Devices

 5.Epigram: It is a pithy (condensed/full of meaning) remark made in a very clever and amusing way. It may be a short poem usually having a satirical tone.

  Read the following lines from William Blake’s ‘Auguries of Innocence’:

  “To see a world in a grain of sand,/And a heaven in a wildflower,

 Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,/And eternity in an hour.”

Some more brief epigrams, which are used as quotations:

 

“Candy /Is dandy,/But liquor/ Is  quicker” (Ogden Nash)

 “It comes once a year/But fades with fear.” (Harry Potter)

 “I can resist everything but temptation.” (Oscar Wild)

"It is better to light the candle than curse the darkness.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

   “Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.” (Fran Lebowitz)

History of Epigrams

The Greeks had the tradition of using epigrams in fond memory of their loved ones. They did not use satire and humour in the epigram, so they were used like an elegy. The difference between these two is noticeable these days.

 Sometimes epigram might give the impression like that of a paradox.

For example: “I can resist everything but temptation.”

But, here it is a clever and amusing way of expressing an idea. At the first impression, it may look contradictory and absurd, but at the deeper level, it reveals a great meaning.