An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end. Or, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge said,
- What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole;
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
- What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole;
- Traveler, carry this word to the men of Lacedaemon: we who lie here did what they told us to do.
- Traveler, carry this word to the men of Lacedaemon: we who lie here did what they told us to do.
- Little strokes
Fell great oaks.
- Here lies my wife: here let her lie!
Now she's at rest — and so am I.
- I am His Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
- Little strokes
An epigraph is an inscription on a building or a quotation used to introduce a written work.