Jeremiad

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:

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. 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.

Jeremiad: A Video by Donnie Searls

Jeremiad is a "Mini-DVD" released in 2005 from West Virginia heavy metal band Byzantine via the production company, Atma (now known as Every Second Pictures). The disc's purpose was to showcase the band's music video for the song Jeremiad, the third song, and only single, off of their 2005 album "...And They Shall Take Up Serpents". The video was directed and co-produced by Donnie Searls. The DVD had only a limited pressing.

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