Metaphor epithet is the personification of hyperbole. Expressive means of language in the artistic style of speech: epithet, comparison, personification, metaphor

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Facilities artistic expression

What is impersonation? Impersonation is the assignment of the attributes of living beings to the inanimate. For example: tired nature; the sun is smiling; the voice of the wind; singing trees; Bullets sang, machine guns beat, the wind rested palms on the chest ...; The wind is tearing the years by the shoulders more and more gloomily, more and more clearly.

Also in the task there are:

Antithesis is opposition.

Gradation - stylistic figure, which consists in such an arrangement of words in which each subsequent word contains an increasing or decreasing meaning.

Oxymoron is a combination of directly opposite words in order to show the inconsistency of the phenomenon.

Hyperbole is an artistic exaggeration.

Litota is an artistic understatement.

A periphery is the replacement of the name of an object with a description of its essential features. For example: the king of beasts (instead of a lion).

Obsolete words as a pictorial device

Colloquial and colloquial vocabulary as a pictorial technique

Phraseologisms as a pictorial device

Rhetorical question, rhetorical exclamation, rhetorical address

Lexical repetition

Syntactic concurrency

Incomplete sentences (ellipsis)

TROPE

Trope is a word or expression used in a figurative sense to create artistic image and achieving greater expressiveness. Trails include tricks such as epithet, comparison, personification, metaphor, metonymy, sometimes they include hyperbole and litoty... No piece of fiction is complete without tropes. An artistic word is polysemantic; the writer creates images, playing with the meanings and combinations of words, using the environment of the word in the text and its sound - all this constitutes the artistic possibilities of the word, which is the only tool of the writer or poet.
Note! When creating a trail, the word is always used in a figurative meaning.

Consider different types trails:

EPITHET(Greek Epitheton, attached) - this is one of the tropes, which is an artistic, figurative definition. The epithet can be:
adjectives: gentle face (S. Yesenin); these poor villages, this meager nature ... (F. Tyutchev); transparent Virgo (A. Blok);
participles: edge abandoned(S. Yesenin); frenzied dragon (A. Blok); takeoff beamed(M. Tsvetaeva);
nouns, sometimes in conjunction with their surrounding context: Here it is, leader without squads(M. Tsvetaeva); My youth! My little dove is dark!(M. Tsvetaeva).

Any epithet reflects the uniqueness of the author's perception of the world, therefore it necessarily expresses some kind of assessment and has a subjective meaning: wooden shelf- not an epithet, so there is no artistic definition, a wooden face is an epithet expressing the impression of the person speaking about the interlocutor's face, that is, creating an image.
There are stable (permanent) folklore epithets: remote burly kind well done, clear sun, as well as tautological, that is, repetitive epithets, with the same root with the word being defined: Eh you, bitter grief, boring boredom, mortal! (A. Blok).

In a work of art an epithet can perform various functions:

• figuratively describe the subject: shining eyes, eyes- diamonds;
• create an atmosphere, mood: gloomy morning;
• convey the attitude of the author (narrator, lyric hero) to the subject being characterized: "Where will our prankster? "(A. Pushkin);
• combine all the previous functions in equal proportions (in most cases of using the epithet).

Note! Everything color coding in a literary text are epithets.

COMPARISON- This is an artistic device (trope), in which an image is created by comparing one object with another. Comparison differs from other artistic comparisons, for example, assimilations, in that it always has a strict formal feature: a comparative construction or turnover with comparative unions. as if, as if, as if, as if and the like. Expressions like he looked like ... cannot be considered a comparison as a trail.

Examples of comparisons:

Comparison also plays certain roles in the text: sometimes authors use the so-called detailed comparison, revealing various signs phenomena or conveying their attitude to several phenomena. Quite often a work is entirely based on comparison, as, for example, V. Brusov's poem "Sonnet to Form":

PERSONALIZATION- an artistic device (trope), in which human properties are given to an inanimate object, phenomenon or concept (do not confuse, it is human!). Impersonation can be used narrowly, in one line, in a small fragment, but it can be a technique on which the entire work is built ("You are my abandoned land" by S. Yesenin, "Mom and the evening killed by the Germans", "Violin and a little nervously" V. Mayakovsky, etc.). Impersonation is considered a type of metaphor (see below).

Impersonation task- to correlate the depicted object with a person, to make it closer to the reader, to figuratively comprehend the inner essence of the object, hidden from everyday life. Impersonation is one of the oldest figurative means of art.

HYPERBOLA(Greek Hyperbole, exaggeration) is a technique in which an image is created through artistic exaggeration. Hyperbola is not always included in the set of tropes, but the nature of the use of the word in a figurative sense to create an image of hyperbole is very close to tropes. A technique opposite to hyperbole in content is LITOTES(Greek Litotes, simplicity) - an artistic understatement.

Hyperbola allows the author to show the reader in an exaggerated form the most specific traits depicted object. Often, hyperbole and litota are used by the author in an ironic manner, revealing not just characteristic, but negative, from the author's point of view, aspects of the subject.

METAPHOR(Greek. Metaphora, transfer) - a kind of so-called complex path, speech turnover, in which the properties of one phenomenon (object, concept) are transferred to another. The metaphor contains a hidden comparison, a figurative assimilation of phenomena using the figurative meaning of words, what the subject is compared with is only implied by the author. No wonder Aristotle said that "to compose good metaphors means to notice similarities."

Examples of metaphors:

METONYMY(Greek Metonomadzo, rename) - type of path: a figurative designation of an object according to one of its characteristics.

Examples of metonymy:

When studying the topic "Means of artistic expression" and completing assignments, pay special attention to the definitions of the above concepts. You must not only understand their meaning, but also know the terminology by heart. This will protect you from practical mistakes: knowing that the comparison technique has strict formal features (see the theory on topic 1), you will not confuse this technique with a number of other artistic techniques, which are also based on comparing several objects, but are not a comparison. ...

Please note that you must start your answer either with the suggested words (rewriting them), or with your own answer to the beginning of the full answer. This applies to all such tasks.

• Literary criticism: Reference materials... - M., 1988.
• Polyakov M. Rhetoric and Literature. Theoretical aspects... - In the book: Questions of poetics and artistic semantics. - M .: Sov. writer, 1978.
• Dictionary of literary terms. - M., 1974.

In order to make a written text or speech vivid, memorable and expressive, authors use certain artistic techniques, traditionally called tropes and figures of speech. These include: metaphor, epithet, personification, hyperbole, comparison, allegory, paraphrase and other turns of speech, where words or expressions are used in a figurative meaning to give what was said more expressive.

What are epithets and metaphors

The most common in literary speech are epithets and metaphors.

The word "epithet" on Greek has the meaning "attached". That is, in the name itself there is already an explanation of the essence - this is a definition that figuratively characterizes an object or phenomenon. The attribute, which is expressed by the epithet, is thus, as it were, attached to the described object; it complements it emotionally and even in a semantic sense.

In linguistics and lexicology, there is still no generally accepted theory that accurately explains what epithets and metaphors are. There are usually three types of epithets:

• general language - those that have stable connections, often used in literary speech (silver dew, bitter frost, etc.);
• folk poetry - used in folklore works (maiden is red, sweet speech, good fellow, etc.);
• individual author's - created by the authors (case considerations (A.P. Chekhov), scratching eyes (M. Gorky)).

Metaphors, in contrast to epithets, are not only one word, but also an expression that is used in a figurative sense. Metaphors are selected on the basis of the similarity or, conversely, the contrast of any phenomena or objects.

How and when the metaphor is used

You can understand in more detail what epithets and metaphors are, as well as what their difference is, if you understand that the main requirement for using the latter is their originality, unusualness, the ability to evoke emotional associations and help to imagine some event or phenomenon.

Here is an example of a metaphorical description of the night sky in the story "Three" by M. Gorky: "The Milky Way spread like a silvery cloth across the sky from edge to edge, it was pleasant and sad to look at it through the branches of a tree."

The use of stereotyped metaphors that have lost their originality and emotional richness from frequent use can reduce the quality of the work or the spoken speech.

Excessiveness and an abundance of metaphors can be no less dangerous. In such cases, speech becomes excessively flowery and ornate, which may impair its perception.

How to distinguish between metaphor and epithet

In works, it is sometimes quite difficult to discern which paths the author uses. To do this, you need to once again understand in comparison what epithets and metaphors are.

A metaphor is a pictorial technique that is based on analogy, transferring meaning according to likeness, similarity: “Morning laughed at the windows. Her eyes are dark agates. "

The epithet is one of the cases of metaphor, it is easier to say - an artistic definition ("Warm milky twilight, icy cold stars").

Based on the foregoing, one can already understand what a metaphor, epithet, personification is and find them in the given example: “It was seen how long needles rushed from a cheerful blue sky, from a tall smoky cloud, drops ...” (I. Bunin, “Little novel").

It is clear that metaphors were used in it (drops were carried by long needles), and epithets (from a smoky cloud) and personification (cheerful blue sky).

Impersonation is a special metaphor-allegory

So what is a metaphor, an epithet, an impersonation? This, as you already understood, is a means of conveying the author's attitude to a phenomenon or an object, a kind of peculiar colors that make it possible to make what is written or said vivid and memorable.

And from this series can be distinguished personification - a special path that has a long history rooted in folk art. Impersonation is the same as allegory, the transfer of the properties of a living being to phenomena or objects.

One of the genres closest to folklore, fable, is also built on the use of personification.

Unlike tropes such as metaphor, epithet, comparison, impersonation, this is also a very economical technique. Applying it, there is no need to describe the subject in detail, it is enough to compare it with something already familiar to evoke the necessary associations: "And how pitiful are the little huts of rural landless poor peasants, covered with shabby straw, buried in the ground up to their belly!" (I. Sokolov-Mikitov, "Childhood").

What is comparison

It is impossible to imagine a work devoid of comparisons, comparisons of something with something, assimilations of one phenomenon to another, allowing one to describe them more accurately, figuratively and at the same time convey their attitude towards them.

Masterfully mastered the art of using epithets, metaphors, comparisons: bright stars In the velvet of heaven, the black patterns of foliage looked like someone’s hands stretched out to the sky in an attempt to reach its heights ”(M. Gorky,“ Three ”).

Difficult Cases in Defining Comparisons

Sometimes the expressive device described above - comparison - is quite difficult to distinguish from cases when the sentence simply uses words with conjunctions “as”, “as if” and “as if”, but for different purposes.

Let's repeat once again - epithets, metaphors, comparisons are paths that help to enrich, “color” what has been said. This means that in the sentence “We saw how he slowly walked towards the forest” there is no comparison, there is only a union connecting the parts. In the sentence “We went out into the corridor, where it was dark and cold, like in a cellar” (I. Bunin) the comparison is clear (cold as in a cellar).

Ways to Express Comparison

And so that in the series of metaphor, epithet, comparison, personification it was possible to finally deal with each trope, let us linger a little longer on the comparison.

It is expressed in different ways:

• with the help of turns with the words "how", "exactly", "like", etc. ("Her hair curled like a mustache of a pea");
• or adverbs ("tongue is sharper than a razor");
• the instrumental case of the noun (“love sang like a nightingale in my heart”);
• and also lexically (using the words "similar to", "similar", etc.).

What is hyperbole

The use of such tropes as metaphor, epithet, comparison, hyperbole is distinguished by its special richness, exaggeration of the essence. Many authors willingly use this technique: "He had a completely impassive, a kind of stone, rusty face."

The fabulous giants, and Thumbelina, and the Boy-with-finger, inhabiting fairy tales, can be attributed to hyperbolic methods. And in epics, hyperbole is an indispensable attribute: the strength of the heroes is always exorbitant, and the enemy is fierce and countless.

Even in everyday speech, one can find hyperbole: "We have not seen each other for a thousand years!" or "A sea of ​​tears was shed."

Metaphor, epithet, comparison, hyperbole are often used in combination, giving rise to hyperbolic comparisons or personifications and metaphors ("the rain poured down like a solid wall").

Learning to use tropes will make your speech vivid and imaginative.

At one time, V.G.Belinsky argued that speaking well and speaking correctly are not the same thing. After all, even flawless, from the point of view of grammar, speech can be difficult to comprehend.

And from the above, you probably already understood what a metaphor, an epithet, an impersonation is, and that it is extremely important to be able to use these techniques. Thoughtful reading of the works of the classics will help you in this, since they can be considered the standard for the application of all the stylistic wealth of the Russian language.

Read Gogol's lines: "Words ... similar to flowers, just as affectionate, bright and juicy ...", in which with a small set the author was able to clearly convey his impression of the sound of words. And remember that metaphor, hyperbole, epithet are the tools that will hone your speech, which means you need to learn how to use them!

In the literature it is called differently by the term "trope". A trope is a rhetorical figure, expression or word that is used figuratively in order to enhance the artistic expressiveness, imagery of the language. Different kinds these figures in literary works are widely used, they are also used in everyday speech and public speaking. The main types of tropes include such as hyperbole, epithet, metonymy, comparison, metaphor, synecdoche, irony, lithote, paraphrase, personification, allegory. Today we will talk about the following three types: comparison, hyperbole and metaphor. Each of the above means of expressiveness in the literature will be considered in detail by us.

Metaphor: definition

The word "metaphor" in translation means "figurative meaning", "transfer". This is an expression or a word that is used in an indirect sense, the basis of this trope is the comparison of an object (unnamed) with another by the similarity of any sign. That is, a metaphor is a turn of speech, which consists in the use of expressions and words in a figurative sense based on comparison, similarity, analogy.

In this path, the following 4 elements can be distinguished: context or category; an object within this category; the process by which a given object performs a specific function; application of the process to specific situations or intersection with them.

A metaphor in lexicology is a semantic relationship that exists between the meanings of a certain polysemantic word, which is based on the presence of similarity (functional, external, structural). Often this trope becomes, as it were, an aesthetic end in itself, thereby displacing the original, original meaning of a concept.

Types of metaphors

It is customary to distinguish in modern theory describing a metaphor, the following two types: a diaphora (that is, a contrasting, sharp metaphor), as well as an epiphora (erased, familiar).

It is carried out sequentially throughout either the entire message as a whole, or a large fragment of it. An example can be offered the following: "The book hunger does not pass: more and more often products from the book market turn out to be stale - they have to be thrown away immediately without trying."

There is also a so-called realized metaphor, which involves operating with an expression without taking into account its figurative nature. In other words, as if the metaphor had a direct meaning. The result of such a realization is often comical. Example: "He lost his temper and got on the tram."

Metaphors in artistic speech

In the formation of various artistic metaphors, an important role is played, as we have already mentioned, characterizing this trope, the associative connections that exist between various subjects... Metaphors as a means of expressiveness in literature activate our perception, violate the "general comprehensibility" and automatism of the narrative.

V artistic speech and language, the following two models are distinguished, according to which this trope is formed. The first of them is based on personification or animation. The second is based on reification. Metaphors (words and expressions) created according to the first model are called personifying. Examples: "frost bound the lake," "the snow is lying," "the year has passed," "the stream is running," "feelings are fading away," "time has stopped," "boredom has stuck." There are also materializing metaphors (" deep sadness"," iron will "," root of evil "," tongues of flame "," finger of fate ").

Linguistic and individual varieties of this trope as a means of expressiveness in literature are always present in artistic speech. They add imagery to the text. When studying various works, especially poetry, one should carefully analyze what constitutes an artistic metaphor. Their various types are widely used if the authors seek to express a subjective, personal attitude to life, transform creatively the world... For example, in romantic works, it is in metaphorization that the attitude of writers to a person and the world is expressed. In philosophical and psychological lyrics, including realistic, this trope is indispensable as a means of individualizing various experiences, as well as expressing the philosophical ideas of certain poets.

Examples of metaphors created by classical poets

A.S. Pushkin, for example, the following metaphors are found: "the moon is making its way," "sad meadows," "noisy dreams," and youth "slyly advises."

In M. Yu. Lermontov: the desert "listens" to God, says a star with a star, "conscience dictates," "an angry mind" moves a pen.

F.I. Tyutcheva: winter is "angry", spring is "knocking" on the window, "sleepy" dusk.

Metaphors and images-symbols

In turn, metaphors can form the basis for various image-symbols. In the work of Lermontov, for example, it is they who make up such images-symbols as "palm" and "pine" ("Wild in the north ..."), "sail" (poem of the same name). Their meaning is in the metaphorical assimilation of a pine tree, a sail to a lonely person who is looking for his own path in life, suffering or rebellious, bearing his loneliness as a burden. Metaphors are also the basis of poetic symbols created in the poetry of Blok and many other symbolists.

Comparison: definition

Comparison is a trope, the basis of which is the assimilation of a certain phenomenon or object to another on the basis of a certain common feature. The goal pursued by this means of expressiveness is to reveal in a given object various properties that are important, new for the subject of the utterance.

Allocate in comparison: the object being compared (which is called the object of comparison), the object (means of comparison) with which this comparison takes place, and also common feature(comparative, in another way - "the basis of comparison"). One of the distinguishing features of this path is the mention of both the one and the other compared object, while a common feature is not necessarily indicated. Comparison should be distinguished from metaphor.

This path is typical for oral folk art.

Types of comparisons

Various kinds of comparisons are available. It is also built in a form which is formed with the help of unions "exactly", "like", "if", "how". Example: "He is stupid like a sheep, but cunning like a devil." There are also non-union comparisons, which are sentences that have a compound nominal predicate. Famous example: "My home is my castle". Formed with the help of a noun used in the instrumental case, for example, "he walks with a gogol". There are also deniers: "Trying is not torture."

Comparison in literature

Comparison as a technique is widely used in artistic speech. With the help of it, parallels, correspondences, similarities between people, their lives and natural phenomena are revealed. Thus, comparison, as it were, reinforces the various associations that arise in the writer.

Often, this trope is a whole associative array that is needed in order for an image to appear. So, in the poem "To the Sea", written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the sea calls the author whole line associations with "geniuses" (Byron and Napoleon) and man in general. They are anchored in various comparisons. The noise of the sea, with which the poet says goodbye, is compared with the "mournful" murmur of a friend, his "call" at the hour of farewell. The poet sees in the personality of Byron the same qualities that are present in the "free element": depth, power, indomitability, gloom. One gets the impression that both Byron and the sea are two creatures with the same nature: freedom-loving, proud, irrepressible, spontaneous, strong-willed.

Comparison in folk poetry

In folk poetry, broadly enduring comparisons are used, which are comparisons based on tradition applied in certain situations. They are not individual, but taken from the stock of a folk singer or storyteller. It is a figurative model that can be easily reproduced in the required situation. Of course, poets who rely on folklore use similar stable comparisons in their work. M.Yu. Lermontov, for example, in his work "Song of the merchant Kalashnikov" writes that the tsar looked "like a hawk" at the gray-winged "young dove" from the heights of heaven.

Hyperbola: definition

The word "hyperbole" in Russian is a term that means "exaggeration", "excess", "excess", "transition" in translation. This is a deliberate and obvious exaggeration in order to enhance expression and emphasize a particular thought. For example: "we have enough food for six months", "I have said this a thousand times already."

Hyperbole is often combined with other various to which it gives the appropriate color. These are metaphors ("waves rose in mountains") and hyperbolic comparisons. The situation or character depicted may also be hyperbolic. This trope is also characteristic of the oratorical, rhetorical style, it is used here as a pathetic device, as well as romantic, where pathos comes into contact with irony.

Examples that use hyperbole in Russian are idioms and phraseological units ("lightning fast", "fast like lightning", "sea of ​​tears", etc.). The listing can be continued for a long time.

Hyperbole in literature

Hyperbole in poetry and prose is one of the most ancient artistic techniques expressiveness. The artistic functions of this trail are many and varied. Literary hyperbole is necessary mainly in order to indicate some exceptional qualities or properties of people, events, things. For example, the exceptional character of Mtsyri, the romantic hero, is emphasized with the help of this trope: a weak young man in a duel with a leopard finds himself an equal rival, just as strong as this wild beast.

Properties of hyperbolas

Hyperbole, personification, epithet, and other tropes tend to grab the attention of readers. The peculiarities of hyperboles are that they force us to look in a new way at the depicted, that is, to feel its significance and special role... Overcoming the boundaries established by plausibility, endowing people, animals, objects, natural phenomena with "miraculous" possessing supernatural properties, this trope, used by various authors, emphasizes the conventionality of the artistic world created by writers. The hyperbole also clarifies the attitude of the creator of the work to the depicted - idealization, "elevation" or, on the contrary, ridicule, denial.

This trope plays a special role in satirical works. In satires, fables, epigrams of poets of the 19-20 century, as well as in the satirical "chronicle" of Saltykov-Shchedrin ("The History of a City") and his fairy tales, in a satirical story " dog's heart"Bulgakov. In the comedies of Mayakovsky" Bath "and" Bedbug "artistic hyperbole reveals the comic characters and events, emphasizing their absurdity and vices, acting as a means of caricatured or caricatured images.

Epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons - all these are means of artistic expression that are actively used in the Russian literary language. There is a huge variety of them. They are necessary in order to make the language vivid and expressive, to enhance artistic images, to draw the reader's attention to the idea that the author wants to convey.

What are the means of artistic expression?

Epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons refer to different groups of means of artistic expression.

Linguistic scholars distinguish sound or phonetic visual aids. Lexical are those that are associated with a specific word, that is, a token. If the expressive means covers a phrase or a whole sentence, then it is syntactic.

Separately, phraseological means are also considered (they are based on phraseological units), tropes (special turns of speech used in a figurative meaning).

Where are the means of artistic expression used?

It should be noted that the means of artistic expression are used not only in literature, but also in different areas communication.

Most often, epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons can be found, of course, in artistic and publicistic speech. They are also present in colloquial and even scientific styles. They play a huge role, as they help the author to realize his artistic idea, his image. They are also useful for the reader. With their help, he can penetrate the secret world of the creator of the work, better understand and delve into the author's intention.

Epithet

Epithets in poetry are one of the most common literary devices. It is surprising that an epithet can be not only an adjective, but also an adverb, a noun, and even a numeral (a common example is second Life).

Most literary scholars regard the epithet as one of the main techniques in poetry that adorns poetic speech.

If we turn to the origins of this word, then it comes from the ancient Greek concept, which literally means "attached". That is, it is an addition to the main word, main function which to make the main idea clearer and more expressive. Most often, the epithet comes before the main word or expression.

Like all means of artistic expression, epithets developed from one literary era to another. So, in folklore, that is, in folk art, the role of epithets in the text is very large. They describe the properties of objects or phenomena. Allocate them key features, while extremely rarely refer to the emotional component.

Later, the role of epithets in literature changes. It is expanding significantly. This means of artistic expression is given new properties and filled with functions that were not inherent in it before. This is especially noticeable among the poets of the Silver Age.

Nowadays, especially in postmodern literary works, the structure of the epithet has become even more complicated. The semantic content of this path has also intensified, leading to surprisingly expressive techniques. For instance: the diapers were gold.

Function of epithets

Definitions of an epithet, metaphor, personification, comparison are reduced to one thing - all these are artistic means that give convexity and expressiveness to our speech. Both literary and colloquial. Special function an epithet is also a strong emotionality.

These means of artistic expression, and especially epithets, help readers or listeners to imagine with their own eyes what the author is talking or writing about, to understand how he relates to this subject.

Epithets are used to realistically recreate the historical era defined by social group or people. With their help, we can imagine how these people spoke, what words colored their speech.

What is a metaphor?

Translated from the ancient Greek language, a metaphor is "transfer of meaning". This is the best way to characterize this concept.

A metaphor can be either a single word or a whole expression, which is used by the author in a figurative sense. This means of artistic expression is based on the comparison of an object that has not yet been named with some other on the basis of their common feature.

Unlike most other literary terms, metaphor has a specific author. This is a famous philosopher Ancient Greece- Aristotle. The initial birth of this term is associated with Aristotle's ideas about art as a method of imitating life.

At the same time, the metaphors used by Aristotle are almost impossible to distinguish from literary exaggeration (hyperbole), ordinary comparison or personification. He understood metaphor much broader than contemporary literary scholars.

Examples of the use of metaphor in literary speech

Epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons are actively used in works of art. Moreover, for many authors it is the metaphor that becomes an aesthetic end in itself, sometimes completely displacing the original meaning of the word.

As an example, literary researchers cite the example of the famous English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. For him, it is often not the everyday initial meaning of a specific statement that is important, but the metaphorical meaning it acquires, a new unexpected meaning.

For those readers and researchers who were brought up on the Aristotelian understanding of the principles of literature, this was unusual and even incomprehensible. So, on this basis, Leo Tolstoy did not recognize Shakespeare's poetry. His points of view in Russia XIX century adhered to many readers of the English playwright.

At the same time, with the development of literature, the metaphor begins not only to reflect, but also to create the life around us. A striking example from classical Russian literature - the story "The Nose" by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The nose of the collegiate assessor Kovalev, who set off on his own trip to St. Petersburg, is not only hyperbole, personification and comparison, but also a metaphor that gives this image a new unexpected meaning.

An illustrative example is the futurist poets who worked in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Their main goal was to distance the metaphor as much as possible from its original meaning. Such techniques were often used by Vladimir Mayakovsky. For example, the title of his poem is "A Cloud in Pants".

Moreover, after October revolution the use of the metaphor has become much less common. Soviet poets and writers strove for clarity and straightforwardness, so the need to use words and expressions in a figurative sense disappeared.

Although it is impossible to imagine a work of art, even by Soviet authors, without a metaphor at all. Almost everyone has metaphor words. In Arkady Gaidar's "The Drummer's Fate" one can find the following phrase - "So we parted. The stomp stopped, and the field is empty."

In Soviet poetry of the 70s, Konstantin Kedrov introduces the concept of "metametaphor" or, as it is also called, "metaphor in a square". The metaphor has a new one distinctive feature- she is constantly involved in the development of the literary language. As well as speech and culture itself in general.

For this, metaphors are constantly used, talking about the latest sources of knowledge and information, they are used to describe the modern achievements of mankind in science and technology.

Impersonation

In order to understand what is personification in literature, let us turn to the origin of this concept. Like most literary terms, it has its roots in ancient Greek. Literally translated, it means "face" and "do". With this literary trick natural forces and phenomena, inanimate objects acquire properties and signs inherent in man. As if animated by the author. For example, they can be given the properties of the human psyche.

Such techniques are often used not only in modern fiction, but also in mythology and religion, in magic and cults. Impersonation was a key means of artistic expression in legends and parables, in which ancient man explained how the world works, what is behind natural phenomena. They were animated, endowed with human qualities, associated with gods or supermen. So it was easier for the ancient man to accept and understand the surrounding reality.

Examples of impersonations

To understand what is personification in literature, examples of specific texts will help us. So, in a Russian folk song, the author claims that "the bast girded with grief".

With the help of personification, a special worldview appears. He is characterized by an unscientific idea of natural phenomena... When, for example, thunder grumbles like an old man, or the sun is perceived not as an inanimate space object, but as a specific god named Helios.

Comparison

In order to understand the main modern means artistic expressiveness, it is important to understand what comparison is in literature. Examples will help us with this. At Zabolotsky we meet: "He used to be sonorous, like a bird"or Pushkin: "He ran faster than a horse.".

Comparisons are often used in Russian folk art. So we clearly see that this is a trope in which one object or phenomenon is likened to another on the basis of some common feature for them. The purpose of the comparison is to find new and important properties for the subject of artistic expression.

Metaphor, epithets, comparisons, personifications serve a similar purpose. The table in which all these concepts are presented helps to clearly understand how they differ from each other.

Types of comparisons

Consider for a detailed understanding of what comparison is in the literature, examples and varieties of this path.

It can be used as comparative turnover: the man is as stupid as a pig.

There are non-union comparisons: My home is my castle.

Comparisons are often formed at the expense of the noun in the instrumental case. A classic example: he walks gogol.