Epigrams and Political Satire in Early Stuart England

The Renaissance epigram was distinguished from satire by its brevity and sharpness, features that influenced how the form was used for political commentary. Its classical legacy promised an elite status and authorial control, but its brevity and wit encouraged widespread oral, manuscript, and print circulation, and epigrammatists therefore struggled to distinguish their work from various popular forms, such as the ballad. The sub-genre of the epitaph was often used for satiric purposes, and examples prompted by the death of the epigrammatist John Owen provide a case study in the dynamics of poetic and political exchange.