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Epithet is an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or the thing mentioned.
- An epithet can be a descriptive term that occurs in the place of a name
- Epithets can also be attached in the place of a person's name or appear as a pronoun
- Epithets are characteristic of the style of ancient epic poetry
- An epithet is an adjective or adjective phrase and can be both positive and negative
Example:
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
~Stopping by woods on a snowy evening
Robert Frost
Here 'little' horse, 'frozen' lake, 'darkest' evening, 'easy' wind and 'downy flake' are epithets, as it describes the appearance of the horse and the phenomenon of the evening time, the depth of the wind blowing and the type of flake.
Epithets from the poem "The Grumble Family":
1. Complaining street
2. Grumble family
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