Karina's Responses in WyzAnt Answers

An epigraph can be either: 

  1) a quotation or an inscription on a building or statue

 - For example a plaque with the following text can be found inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty : 

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This quote comes from Emma Lazarus' sonnet, New Colossus

-or an epigraph can be

  2) a quotation or "motto" used at the beginning of a book or any text which usually suggest the theme of that book or text

- For example: this is the epigraph in the beginning of the Great Gatsby:

"Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!" – Thomas Parke D’Invilliers

-Epigraphs give you a sampling of what is too come in the book or just give you a heads up as to what the theme may be