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A jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in verse, in which the author bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall. The word is an eponym, named after the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, and comes from Biblical works attributed to him, the ''Book of Jeremiah'' and the ''Book of Lamentations''. The Book of Jeremiah prophesies the coming downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and asserts that this is because its rulers have broken the covenant with the Lord. The ''Lamentations'', similarly, lament the fall of the kingdom of Judah after the conquest prophesied by Jeremiah has occurred: How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! Generally, the term ''jeremiad'' is applied to moralistic texts that denounce a society for its wickedness, and prophesy its downfall. The jeremiad was a favorite literary device of the Puritans especially in sermons like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.〔Daniels, Bruce C. Puritans at Play. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2005. ISBN 978-1-4039-7212-5 〕 Authors from Gildas to Robert Bork have had this label hung on their works. Extending that tradition in a reflective vein is the autobiographical work of freed American slave Frederick Douglass, who lamented the moral corruption that slavery wrought on America – from both a Jeffersonian and Christian tradition. In contemporary usage, it is frequently pejorative, meant to suggest that the tone of the text is excessively pessimistic and overwrought. ==See also== * Philippic (tirade, orations) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jeremiad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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