Epigraph Definition Literature. An epigraph is a short quotation, phrase, or poem that is placed at the beginning of another piece of writing to encapsulate that work's main themes and to . The word epigraph is derived from the greek epigraphein meaning "to write on." the use of epigraphs varies from book to book, but generally, . Now we've cleared that up, let's return to the first of these: In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document, monograph or section thereof.