A Brieffor the Epigram
The GreekAntholog~，. Edited by Peter Jay. Penguin 1981. 442 pp. Out of print.
Martial in English. Edited by J. P. Sullivan and A. J. Boyle. Penguin 1996.
436 pp. $14.95 (paper)
The Mortal City: 100 Epigrams of Ma， tial.. Translated by William Matthews.
Ohio University Press 1995. 107 pp. $15.00 (paper)
David R. Slavitt， Epic and Epigram: Two Elizabethan Entertainments. LSU
Press 1995.63 pp. $11.95 (paper)
The Poems of J. V. Cunningham. Edited by Timothy Steele. Swallow
Press/Ohio University Press 1997. 215 pp. $16.95 (paper)
What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole，
Its body brevity， and wit its soul.
--SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
There is， first off， the niggling problem of nomenclature. Epitaph，
epigraph， epigram~you own a nimble tongue indeed if you ve never
once caught yoursdfin mid-malaprop. But the real vexation sets in when
you try to classify the thing with any sort of modest accuracy. What is
an epigram， anyway? That was once a question of no small import for
the best and brightest literary minds， and if Coleridge s riposte is suitably
brisk， there is something curiously poignant about it as well. For who
gets exercised anymore over the enigma of the epigram? And who but a
few confirmed contrarians and inveterate antiquarians ever go so far as
actually to try to pull one off?
~ 8 ~
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