Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
BATHOS (Gr. 3hOos)
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
BATHOS (Gr. 3hOos), properly depth, the bottom or lowest part of anything. The current usage for an anticlimax, a descent " from the sublime to the ridiculous," from the elevated to the commonplace in literature or speech, is due to Pope's satire on Bathos (Miscellanies, 1727-1728), "the art of sinking in poetry." The title was a- travesty of Longinus's essay, On the Sublime, Ilepi' 6 'uc.