Epigraph

An epigraph is a short text (a quotation, saying, proverb, or line of verse) placed by the author at the beginning of a work (or a chapter of it) before the main text, which concisely expresses the idea, theme, mood, or problematics of the ensuing exposition. The epigraph is an element of the paratext (per Gérard Genette) that attunes the reader to the intended perception, enters into dialogue with the work, and often contains a hidden authorial evaluation or a key to understanding. The source of an epigraph may be Scripture, the classics, folklore, the words of another author, or the writer's own. The epigraph establishes an intertextual connection between the work and the cultural tradition. Taras Shevchenko masterfully used biblical epigraphs (the poem 'The Caucasus' has as its epigraph the words of the prophet Jeremiah; the poem 'The Dream' a quotation from the Gospel of John), lending his works a prophetic, denunciatory resonance.