What is sentimental story? (2023)

What makes a story sentimental?

Something is sentimental when it exaggerates a feeling and becomes falsely emotional or inauthentic. This often happens when a writer relies on an assumed emotional response from a reader by, for instance, describing a marriage as happy or a funeral as sad.

Sentimental literature is interested in the experience, display, effect, and interpretation of emotion (pleasurable or otherwise) and in stirring up emotion in readers. The literature and culture of sentimentality has traditionally been viewed as clichéd, predictable and of limited aesthetic and social value.

Sentimental describes a person who relies on emotions more than reason, or a novel or film that is overly emotional. Derived from the Latin verb, sentire "to feel," sentimental always implies that the emotions are involved a little too much.

sentimental novel, broadly, any novel that exploits the reader's capacity for tenderness, compassion, or sympathy to a disproportionate degree by presenting a beclouded or unrealistic view of its subject.

Feeling sentimental can give you a sense of belonging and make you feel a strong connection to people, a place, or an experience. This is something we all feel from time to time! Our lives are made up of so many moments, and cherishing those moments can be a really positive thing!

Sentiment is authentic emotion. And you encounter it any time a story makes you laugh, cry, get angry, or otherwise truly feel as a result of your immersion in the story. Sentimentality occurs when a reader recognizes that a writer is trying to evoke emotion but failing to do so.

In modern times "sentimental" is a pejorative term that has been casually applied to works of art and literature that exceed the viewer or reader's sense of decorum—the extent of permissible emotion—and standards of taste: "excessiveness" is the criterion; "Meretricious" and "contrived" sham pathos are the hallmark of ...

Be careful with your wording. You have to use words obviously, otherwise it's not a poem, but you have to think carefully about how you say what you want to say and avoid certain words and certain turns of phrase. It's good practice to limit the amount of adjectives you use and especially limit redundant adjectives.

Examples of sentimental in a Sentence

He has a sentimental attachment to his old high school. She saved her wedding gown for sentimental reasons. He has sentimental ideas about the past. I tend to get very sentimental when I think about my childhood.

What makes someone sentimental?

A sentimental person has strong emotions and experiences life with a great depth of feeling; be it happiness, sadness, nostalgia, grief, guilt, or any plethora of emotions, sentimental people feel them all!

SYNONYMS 1. romantic, tender, nostalgic; maudlin, bathetic.

The American sentimental novel achieved massive sales and popularity during the Antebellum era. Landmark examples include Susan Warner's The Wide, Wide World (1850), Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's The Gates Ajar (1869), and Maria Cummins's The Lamplighter (1854).

In eighteenth-century England, the sentimental novel was a major literary genre. Its philosophical basis primarily came from Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, a pupil of John Locke.

1 What Sentimental and Romantic Mean

Webster defines "sentimental" as relating to emotions rather than reason and "romantic" as relating to love between two people.

Sentimental novels relied on emotional response, both from their readers and characters. They feature scenes of distress and tenderness, and the plot is arranged to advance both emotions and actions.

A sentimental novel, or a novel of sensibility is a literary genre, popular in the 18th century, that is defined by its focus on concepts of sentiment and sensibility.

1 What Sentimental and Romantic Mean

Webster defines "sentimental" as relating to emotions rather than reason and "romantic" as relating to love between two people.