bathos

bathos
/bay"thos, -thaws, -thohs/, n.
1. a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
2. insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.
3. triteness or triviality in style.
[1630-40; < Gk: depth]
Syn. 2. maudlinness, tearfulness; mush, gush, schmaltz. 3. insipidity, inanity.

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      (from Greek bathys, “deep”), unsuccessful, and therefore ludicrous, attempt to portray pathos in art, i.e., to evoke pity, sympathy, or sorrow. The term was first used in this sense by Alexander Pope (Pope, Alexander) in his treatise Peri Bathous; or, The Art of Sinking in Poetry (1728). Bathos may result from an inappropriately dignified treatment of the commonplace, the use of elevated language and imagery to describe trivial subject matter, or from such an exaggeration of pathos (emotion provoked by genuine suffering) as to become overly sentimental or ridiculous.

      Even great poets occasionally lapse into bathos. William Wordsworth's attempt to arouse pity for the old huntsman in “Simon Lee” is defeated by the following lines:

Few months of life has he in store
As he to you will tell,
For still, the more he works, the more
Do his weak ankles swell.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bathos — is from the Greek , meaning depth . As used in English it originally referred to a particular type of bad poetry, but it is now used more broadly to cover any ridiculous artwork or performance. More strictly speaking, bathos is unintended humor… …   Wikipedia

  • bathos — anticlimax, a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous, 1727, from Gk. bathos depth, related to bathys deep; introduced by Pope …   Etymology dictionary

  • bathos — [bā′thäs΄, bā′thôs΄] n. [Gr bathos, depth < bathys: see BATHY ] 1. an abrupt, often ludicrous change from the lofty to the ordinary or trivial in writing or speech; unintentional anticlimax 2. false pathos; sentimentality 3. hackneyed quality; …   English World dictionary

  • Bathos — Ba thos (b[=a] th[o^]s), n. [Gr. ba qos depth, fr. baqy s deep.] (Rhet.) A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Bathos — (gr., Tiefe), bei älteren Ästhetikern das Erhabene; bei neueren gemeine, kriechende, erhaben sein sollende Schreibart …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Bathos — (griech. die Tiefe), niedere Rede und Schreibart …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • bathos — *pathos, poignancy Analogous words: mawkishness, maudlinism, soppiness, mushiness (see corresponding adjectives at SENTIMENTAL) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • bathos — [n] sentimentality anticlimax, comedown, letdown, melodrama, mush, schmaltz*; concepts 32,410,689 …   New thesaurus

  • bathos — ► NOUN ▪ (in literature) an unintentional change in mood from the important and serious to the trivial or ridiculous. DERIVATIVES bathetic adjective. ORIGIN Greek, depth …   English terms dictionary

  • bathos — [18] Bathos, the descent from the sublime to the commonplace, means etymologically ‘depth’. It represents Greek báthos, a derivative of the adjective bathús ‘deep’ (which has also given English such technical terms as bathyal ‘of the deep sea’,… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • bathos — [18] Bathos, the descent from the sublime to the commonplace, means etymologically ‘depth’. It represents Greek báthos, a derivative of the adjective bathús ‘deep’ (which has also given English such technical terms as bathyal ‘of the deep sea’,… …   Word origins

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