An epigram is a brief statement, usually a very short poem. An epigraph is a statement that comes before a book starts. An epilogue is something at the end of a work that helps explain it, though it's usually part of the work itself.
I started to call "To the Queen" an epigram, then I changed it to epigraph and then I decided to look it up before I changed it again. I eventually saw my mistakes and then settled on the term "afterword" for "To the Queen." (Note: Since changed again: see next post.)
I'm sitting next to the Reference section of the library right now. You'd think I'd look some of these things up before I write them, but ... . (Note: I'll never worry again: www.oxforddictionaries.com for me from now on.)*
The other mistake I caught in the previous post I'm leaving intact there, but I'm correcting it here instead: part of Merlin's prophecy in Idylls is in Morte D'Arthur -- the most important part, in fact. But other parts apparently are not.
This leads me to another reason for my Top Ten -- many of them have something in them I'd written about here when I called this blog "The Art of Definition." Remember when I tried writing a poem in "songform"?
Merlin's prophecy is in a bardic triad (more like "chantform," I would think. Is "chantform" a word? I doubt it.). Several songform poems elsewhere in the Idylls are set in important places, as well. Tennyson's work here can be profitably studied by poets looking for tips on this subject.
I also erred in saying that "The Coming of Arthur" is largely a rewrite of the first book of Morte. It's actually a composite from lots of sources, including the author's rich imagination and careful character painting. In fact, I now remember thinking when I finished "The Coming ..." that I was glad I'd read the first book of Morte beforehand. I might have gotten really confused otherwise.
Me confused? Imagine that!
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