Epistle << ih PIHS uhl >> can refer to any letter written to an individual or a group. However, the word usually describes a letter that is formal and serious in tone, impersonal, and instructive.
The term epistle is particularly associated with 21 books of the New Testament. The Roman orator and statesman Cicero wrote epistles on subjects ranging from politics to philosophy. More than 800 of his letters have survived and remain a major source for the study of Roman history and thought. A number of poets have used the epistle form for their verses. The Roman poet Horace composed many verse epistles between 20 and 8 B.C. The English poet Alexander Pope imitated Horace in such satirical poems as “An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” (1735) and “An Epistle to Augustus” (1737). Pope’s verse epistles gained a new popularity for the form during the 1700’s. Epistolary novels such as Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1982) take the form of letters exchanged between fictional characters.
