A style first pooh-poohed by Alexander Pope in his 1727 treatise
against dunces, Peri Bathous; or the Art of Sinking in Poetry,
bathos is when an author seems to be trying really, really hard
to write about something lofty or noble or elevated, but then
descends into the trivial and/or stupid. Think of bathos as an
abrupt shift in tone from high to low. Bathetic style can be
unintentional or used for comedic effect, as in this famous line
from Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Why
are people born? Why do they die? And why do they spend so much
of the intervening time wearing digital watches?