ANTICLIMAX (i.e. the opposite to "

See also:

• CLIMAX, JOHN (c. 525–600 A.D.)

climax ")  , in rhetoric, an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which he appeared to be aiming at; as in the following well-known distich: " The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war, Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar." An anticlimax can be intentionally employed only for a jocular or satiric purpose . It frequently partakes of the nature of antithesis, as " Die and endow a college or a cat." It is often difficult to distinguish between "anticlimax" and bathos "; but the former is more decidedly a relative term . A. whole speech may never rise above the level of bathos; but a climax of greater or less elevation is the necessary antecedent of an anticlimax .