Epigram Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RL.9-10.5

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

This is a rhetorical device that is usually quickly delivered in an attempt to add a satirical twist. Authors will often use this technique to break apart somber dialogue to lighten things up. These can often be discovered within witty statements. When used in poetry, they usually focus on a single focused subject. Epigrams are often best used with audiences that appreciate an element of humor or comedic relief. In strictly formal settings these are the literary devices that you may want to avoid. These are commonly used in speeches, television, plays, and movies. These worksheets will help students first identify the use of this literary technique and then slowly help them how to approach using it in their own writing.

Epigram Worksheets To Print:

Example Dialogue - Explore a wide range of dialogue and determine if this device is present.

Maxim, Aphorism, or Epigram? - This exercise provides you with a series of situations that you are asked to classify.

Ins and Outs - Take your time and see which terms should be positioned in the blanks.

Close Concepts - Explore all of these different concepts to see where the connect and do not.

The Premise - This can be used as an introductory or review sheet, as a class, depending on where you are within your school year.

Qualified? - Briefly discuss why each of the following quotations qualifies as an epigram.

Organizer - This is an organizer that covers all the major aspects of this technique.

Lots of Examples - We provide you with many different examples of this technqiue used in dialogue to help you get familar with it.

Maxim - Compare and contrast these two different approached to writing. When should use one over the other?

The Wisdom - Read all of the dialogue that is provided. Think about the wisdom it may contain, as well as how that wisdom is expressed.

Picture of Dorian Gray - A classic that often uses this course of action to engage readers.

Composition - Think of an idea you would like to express. Think of a brief saying that gets across the idea.

Analysis - You can use this as a workflow to breakdown just about any text you may want to explore.

The Power - Why can epigrams have a lasting effect on readers.

Be Prepared - Write down three epigrams that you are familiar with, and that you feel communicate something important and worth remembering. If you do not know any (or you don't realize that you do), put some time into research.

What Is Epigram In Literature?

The term "epigram" derives from the Greek epigraphein, which means "to write on, inscribe," and was originally used to describe inscriptions carved into stone structures in ancient Greece. The Roman poet Martial's epigrams from the first century provided the paradigm for the contemporary epigram.


Thanks to authors like Lord George Byron, the use of the epigram flourished in 17th-century England. The epigrammatic style was also popularized in France by poet Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux and the famous philosopher Voltaire.


An epigram is a rhetorical technique that is a sarcastic phrase that is memorable, short, fascinating, and startling. The word epigramma comes from the Greek word epigramma, which means "inscription" or "inscription." Epigrams are often considered clever or witty remarks.


This literary form is frequently utilised in poetry, where it appears as a brief satirical poem with a single theme that concludes with a clever or witty idea. During the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, poets such as William Shakespeare, Coleridge and Taylor promoted this technique as a literary device because they were considered far superior to regular speech.


The Various Uses of Epigram


An epigram can be considered a brilliant and funny comment conveyed in only a few lines, revealing humanity's flaws and realities. This is frequent in poetry, but may also be found in prose, film, fiction writing, politics, and ordinary conversation. They are similar to maxims and proverbs in that they serve the same function.


The major goal of employing such lines, however, is to make a favorable impression on the audience by demonstrating genuine comedy combined with knowledge. Furthermore, authors employ this literary trick to compel listeners and readers to consider the implications of their comments.


While their purpose is to convey a message, they are often funny or clever in nature. Aphorisms are more likely to be true. Aphorisms are sentences that convey a truth or moral principle, and are closely connected to epigrams.


They are often composed as short messages that are delivered in a sharp or humorous manner. These messages are frequently written in poem form to give them a rhythm. When speaking to a group of people, folks may desire to employ epigrams to impart a lasting message or notion. These are often used in speeches, lectures, debates, and written content.


These comments are easily remembered since they are crisp and funny. Epigrams frequently feature a clever "twist" in the form of an opposition or a contradiction. Although this technqiue is most typically used to refer to a small poem, it can also refer to a section of a poem or even a line from a lengthy piece of writing.


What makes them even more memorable is that they tend to rhyme, but there are exceptions to this rule, particularly when it comes to poetry.