Epigrams

EPIGRAM: 'originally meant, in Greek, an inscription, but was extended to include any very short poem -- whether amorous, elegiac, meditative, complimentary, anecdotal, or satiric -- which is polished, terse, and pointed; often an epigram ends with a surprising or witty turn of thought' ( M. H. Abrams, A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS).