Jeremiad
A prolonged lamentation or bitter complaint, typically warning of moral or social decline.
A jeremiad is a long, sorrowful denunciation, named for the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, whose Book of Lamentations mourns the fall of Jerusalem. In its classical form, the jeremiad is not merely a complaint: it argues that a people has abandoned its founding covenant and calls it back to repentance.
The form has a distinguished lineage in American oratory in particular, from Puritan sermons to modern political and cultural criticism. A skilled jeremiad interleaves grief and hope: it grieves what has been lost precisely because the speaker still believes the community can recover it.
As quotation, a passage from a jeremiad tends to travel poorly. Stripped of its context, the lament reads as pure pessimism, when the original speech often ended in a call to action. When quoting from such a passage, include enough of the turn toward hope to represent the argument fairly.
“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow!”
Keep reading the glossary
A formal public speech — the original setting for many of the most-quoted lines in history.
A religious address — historically one of the most prolific sources of quotation in any culture.
Deliberate exaggeration for effect — not meant to be taken literally.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.