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epigram
In modern usage, is a neat, witty, and pointed utterance briefly couched in verse form, usually satiric, and reserving its sting to the last line; sometimes made the vehicle of a quaintly-turned compliment, as, for example, in Pope's couplet to Chesterfield, when asked to write something with that nobleman's pencil;—
"Accept a miracle; instead of wit, ,See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ."
The Latin epigrammatists, especially Martial and Catullus, were the first to give a satirical turn to the epigram, their predecessors the Greeks having employed it merely for purposes of epitaph and monumental inscriptions of a laudatory nature.
- 词性: noun
- 行业/领域: 语言
- 类别 Encyclopedias
- Organization: Project Gutenberg
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- JohannesDD
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(Sydney, Australia)