On The Ridiculous In Writing, Orson Scott Card again:

- When you reach for emotions the story has not earned, we call it "sentimental" or "melodramatic."

This is the principle of adequateness, so boldly denied by Robert Browning when he says "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." Perhaps Browning might have written successful plays had he worked within his sphere of influence and not fought Romantically to force himself to be Sublime. In any case, Longinius is the origin of this principle in his essay On the Sublime, which itself is a sublimely moving piece of literature.