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

An epithet is a figurative definition of an object or action.

Tropes, in the strict sense of the term, include only epithets, the function of which is performed by words used in a figurative meaning: golden autumn, tear-stained windows, and the difference from the exact epithets expressed by words used in their literal meaning: red viburnum, sultry afternoon. Epithets are most often colorful definitions expressed by adjectives.

Adjectives-epithets during substantivization can serve as subject, object, address: Sweet, kind, old, gentle! Don't be friends with sad thoughts (Es.).

Most epithets characterize objects, but there are also those that figuratively describe actions. Moreover, if the action is indicated by a verbal noun, the epithet is expressed by an adjective: heavy movement of clouds, soporific sound of rain, if the action is named by a verb, then the epithet can be an adverb that acts as a circumstance: The leaves weretenselystretched downwind.Tightthe earth hooted(Paust.). Nouns that play the role of applications, predicates, and give a figurative characteristic of an object can also be used as epithets: Poet -echo of the world, not only -nanny of your soul(M.G.).

Epithets are studied from different positions, while offering different classifications. From a genetic point of view, epithets can be divided into general linguistic ones (deathly silence, lightning-fast decision), and individual authorial ones (cold horror, pampered negligence, chilling politeness - T.), and folk-poetic ones (a beautiful maiden, a good fellow). The latter are also called constants, since phrases with them have acquired a stable character in the language.

A stylistic approach to the study of epithets makes it possible to distinguish three groups within them:

Intensifying epithets that indicate a feature contained in the word being defined: mirror surface, cold indifference; Intensifying epithets also include tautological ones:.

bitter grief features object (size, shape, color, etc.): The Russian people created a huge oral literature:wiseproverbs andcunningpuzzles,funnyAndsadritual songs,solemnepics. The expressive power of such epithets is often reinforced by other tropes, especially comparisons.

It is not always possible to draw a clear line between intensifying and clarifying epithets. Contrasting epithets that form combinations of words with opposite meanings with the defined nouns - oxymorons:, living Dead.

joyful sadness

Comparison Comparison - comparison of one object with another for the purpose of artistic description of the first:Under blue skiesmagnificent carpets, glistening in the sun, the snow lies

(P.). Comparison is one of the most common means of figurativeness in metalogical speech. Comparisons are widely used by poets, scientists resort to them to popularly explain any phenomenon: in a lecture on physics: If we imagine that a multi-ton mass of water every second passing through the dam of the world's largest hydroelectric power station, Krasnoyarsk, we somehow miraculously force it to squeeze through an ordinary water tap during the same second, only then will we get an indirect idea of ​​how a laser beam differs from light all other sources ; They are used by publicists as a means of vivid speech expression:In recent weeks, hydraulic builders have been gradually narrowing the river bed... Two stone ridgesas if they were rushing towards each other

. And how swift the flow of the great Russian river became! A simile is the simplest form of figurative speech. Almost every figurative expression can be reduced to a comparison: leaf gold - leaves yellow like gold

. Unlike other tropes, comparison is always binary: it names both compared objects (phenomena, qualities, actions). Negative comparisons are common in works of oral folk art. From folklore these comparisons moved into Russian poetry:Not the windblowing from above,sheets touched on the moonlit night; You touched my soul - it is anxious, like leaves, it is like a harp, multi-stringed

. Negative comparisons pit one thing against another. Vague comparisons are also known; they give the highest assessment of what is described, without, however, receiving specific figurative expression:You can’t tell, you can’t describe what kind of life it is(Tward.). Folklore stable circulation also belongs to vague comparisons neither to say in a fairy tale, nor to describe with a pen.

Sometimes, for comparison, two images are used at once, connected by a dividing union: the author, as it were, gives the reader the right to choose the most accurate comparison: Handra was waiting for him on guard, and she ran after him,like a shadow or a faithful wife(P.). In figurative speech, it is possible to use several comparisons that reveal different aspects of the same subject: We are rich, barely out of the cradle, with the mistakes of our fathers and their late minds, and life is already tormenting us,like a smooth path without a goal, like a feast at someone else's holiday(L.).

Comparisons that point to several common features in the compared objects are called expanded. The detailed comparison includes two parallel images in which the author finds much in common. The artistic image used for a detailed comparison gives the description special expressiveness:

The origin of the idea is perhaps best explained by comparison. (...) The idea is lightning. Electricity accumulates above the ground for many days. When the atmosphere is saturated with it to the limit, white cumulus clouds turn into menacing thunderclouds and the first spark is born from the thick electric infusion - lightning. Almost immediately after the lightning, rain falls on the ground. (...) For the appearance of a plan, as for the appearance of lightning, most often an insignificant push is needed. (...) If lightning is a plan, then rainfall is the embodiment of a plan. These are harmonious flows of images and words. This is a book.(K.G. Paustovsky)

Hyperbola

Hyperbole is a figurative expression consisting of exaggeration of the size, strength, beauty, or meaning of what is being described: My love,wide as the sea, the shores cannot accommodate life.

Litotes is a figurative expression that downplays the size, strength, and meaning of what is being described: Your Spitz, lovely Spitz,no more than a thimble. Litotes is also called an inverse hyperbola.

Hyperbole and litotes have common ground- deviation from an objective quantitative assessment of an object, phenomenon, quality, - therefore the following can be combined in speech: Andersen knew that you could love every word of a woman, every lost eyelash, every speck of dust on her dress until your heart hurts. He understood this. He thought that such love, if he let it flare up, his heart would not contain(Paust.).

Hyperbole and litotes can be expressed by linguistic units of various levels (words, phrases, sentences, complex syntactic wholes), so their classification as lexical figurative means is partly conditional.

Hyperbole can be “layered”, superimposed on other tropes - epithets, comparisons, metaphors, giving the image features of grandiosity. In accordance with this, hyperbolic epithets are distinguished: Alone at homeas long as the stars, other -moon-length; to heavenbaobabs(Lighthouse.); hyperbolic comparisons: A man with a bellysimilar to that gigantic samovar, in which sbiten is cooked for the entire vegetated market(G.); hyperbolic metaphors: The fresh wind intoxicated the chosen ones, knocked them off their feet, and raised them from the dead, because if they didn’t love, thenneither lived nor breathed! (High). Litotes most often takes the form of comparison: Like a blade of grass, the wind is shaking the young man(Ring), epithet: The horse is led by the bridle by a peasant in big boots, a short sheepskin coat, and big mittens... and he himselffrom marigold! (N.).

Like other tropes, hyperbole and litotes can be general linguistic and individually authored. Common language hyperboles include: wait forever, smother in your arms, a sea of ​​tears, love madly and so on.; litotes : wasp waist, two inches from the pot, knee-deep sea, a drop in the sea. These tropes are included in the emotionally expressive means of phraseology.

Periphrase

Adjacent to lexical figurative means is periphrasis (periphrasis), which, as a composite speech unit, gravitates towards phraseology. Periphrasis is a descriptive phrase used instead of a word or phrase.

Not all paraphrases are metaphorical in nature; there are also those in which direct meaning words forming them: city ​​on the Neva, smelling part of the body(nose)(G.). Such periphrases, in contrast to figurative ones, can be defined as non-figurative. Only figurative periphrases belong to tropes, since only in them words are used in a figurative meaning. Unimaginative periphrases are only renamings of objects, qualities, and actions. WITHthe sun of Russian poetry(author of “Eugene Onegin”) - figurative periphrase; Golden Taurus(banknotes) - an unimaginative paraphrase.

Paraphrases can be general language or individually authored. General linguistic periphrases acquire a stable character, are phraseologized or are on the way to phraseologization (our smaller brothers, green friend, the country of blue lakes). Such paraphrases are usually expressively colored.

Individual author’s periphrases are even more expressive; they perform an aesthetic function in speech: It's a sad time! Eyes charm! (P.); Have you heard the voice of the night singer of love, the singer of your sorrow behind the grove?(P.). In such figurative periphrases, metaphors, epithets, and evaluative vocabulary are often used. They can give artistic speech a variety of expressive shades - from high pathos: Run, hide from sight,Cytheras weak queen ! Where are you, where are you,thunderstorm of kings, proud singer of freedom?(P.), to a casual, ironic sound: Meanwhilerural cyclops before the slow fireRussian treat with a hammer a European lung product , blessing the ruts and ditches of the father's land(P.).

Periphrases enable the writer to pay attention to those features of the depicted objects and phenomena that are especially important for him artistically.

Unlike figurative periphrases, non-figurative ones perform not an aesthetic, but a semantic function in speech, helping the author to more accurately express a thought and emphasize certain features of the described object. In addition, resorting to paraphrases allows you to avoid repetition.

Unimaginative paraphrases are also used to explain words and names that are little known to the reader: Persian poet Saadi -the crafty and wise sheikh from the city of Shiraz - believed that a person should live at least ninety years(Paust.). Periphrases, which serve to clarify certain concepts, are widely used in non-fiction speech: All the outer parts of the root, its skin and hairs, consist of cellsthat is, blind bubbles or tubes, in the walls of which there are never holes (Tim.). In special cases, such periphrases can also perform a stylistic function of strengthening, emphasizing a semantically important word: A reduction in the cost of green mass will entail a reduction in the price of livestock products,source of dynamic energy for wide consumption .

The use of some lexical paraphrases is stylistically limited. Thus, the periphrases of the emphatically polite style of explanation became archaic: I dare to report, as you deigned to notice.

There are periphrases of a euphemistic nature: they exchanged pleasantries instead: they swore at each other. Similar general linguistic periphrases are used most often in colloquial speech: wait for the addition of the family, cuckold. In works of art, such euphemisms are a source of humor: Doctor, doctor, is it possible?let me warm myself from the inside? (Tward.). The use of such paraphrases is due to the author’s desire to give the speech a casual, conversational tone.

B8

Facilities artistic expression

What is personification? Personification is the assignment of attributes of living beings to nonliving things. For example: tired nature; the sun is smiling; voice of the wind; singing trees; Bullets were singing, machine guns were beating, the wind was pressing our palms into our chests...; More and more bleakly, more and more clearly the wind is tearing the years by the shoulders.

Also included in the task:

Antithesis - opposition.

Gradation is a stylistic figure that consists of an arrangement of words in which each subsequent word contains an increasing or decreasing meaning.

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

Hyperbole is an artistic exaggeration.

Litotes is an artistic understatement.

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

Outdated words as a figurative device

Colloquial and colloquial vocabulary as a figurative device

Phraseologisms as a figurative device

Rhetorical question, rhetorical exclamation, rhetorical appeal

Lexical repetition

Syntactic parallelism

Incomplete sentences (ellipsis)

In the section on the question What is a phraseological unit, epithet, metaphor, comparison, personification, hyperbole? given by the author Ride the best answer is a phraseological unit, or phraseological unit, also an idiom (from the Greek ἴδιος - own, characteristic) - a stable phrase that performs the function of a separate word, used as a whole, not subject to further decomposition and usually not allowing the rearrangement of its parts within itself. The meaning of a phraseological unit cannot be deduced from the meanings of its constituent components (for example, “to hit back” - to respond blow to blow, “ Railway"- a special type of communication with train rails, sleepers, etc., and not just a road paved with iron). An epithet (from ancient Greek ἐπίθετον - “attached”) is a definition of a word that affects its expressiveness. It is expressed mainly by an adjective, but also by an adverb (“to love dearly”), a noun (“fun noise”), and a numeral (second life). METAPHOR (Greek metaphora - "transfer") - a type of artistic trope (Greek tropos - "turnaround"), one of the methods of artistic formation, which consists in bringing together and connecting individual images (not interconnected in real life) into a whole (see . composition; integrity). Comparison is a figurative expression built on the comparison of two objects, concepts or states that have a common feature, due to which the artistic value first subject. Personification (personification, prosopopoeia) is a trope, attributing properties and characteristics of animate objects to inanimate ones. Hyperbole (Greek hyperbole - excess, exaggeration; from hyper - through, over and bole - throw, throwing) is a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration, in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the said thought, for example “I said this a thousand times” or “ We have enough food for six months.”

Answer from Sanya_is_Chapa[newbie]
Yes

Answer from chevron[newbie]
Metaphor is when a verb has a figurative meaning. For example: the branches of rowan trees are burning. Explanation: The branches of the village cannot burn; they are red.
Personification is when the non-living becomes alive. For example: I saw a light from the stove. Explanation: Fire cannot see.
Epithet is beautiful expression. For example: Red maiden. Explanation: The girl is beautiful, not red.
Comparison is when something is compared to something. For example: The field is like the golden sun. Explanation: The field is just yellow, but it is not the sun.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration. For example: A very creepy lesson. Explanation: always before school we think that it’s scary there. But we were just exaggerating.
Phraseologism is a figurative expression. For example: weigh noodles on your ears. Tell a lie. etc.

Means of enhancing speech expressiveness. The concept of a path. Types of tropes: epithet, metaphor, comparison, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes, irony, allegory, personification, periphrasis.

Trope is a rhetorical figure, word or expression used in a figurative meaning in order to enhance the imagery of language and the artistic expressiveness of speech. Trails are widely used in literary works, oratory and in everyday speech.

The main types of tropes: Epithet, metaphor, comparison, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes, irony, allegory, personification, periphrasis.

An epithet is a definition of a word that affects its expressiveness. It is expressed mainly by an adjective, but also by an adverb (“to love dearly”), a noun (“fun noise”), and a numeral (second life).

An epithet is a word or an entire expression, which, due to its structure and special function in the text, acquires some new meaning or semantic connotation, helps the word (expression) gain color and richness. Used in both poetry and prose.

Epithets can be expressed in different parts speeches (Mother Volga, tramp wind, bright eyes, damp earth). Epithets are a very common concept in literature; without them it is impossible to imagine a single work of art.

Below us with a cast-iron roar
Bridges instantly rattle. (A. A. Fet)

Metaphor (“transfer”, “figurative meaning”) - a trope, a word or expression used in a figurative meaning, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common feature. A figure of speech consisting of the use of words and expressions in a figurative sense based on some kind of analogy, similarity, comparison.

There are 4 “elements” in a metaphor:

An object within a specific category,

The process by which this object performs a function,

Applications of this process to real situations, or intersections with them.

In lexicology, a semantic connection between the meanings of one polysemantic word, based on the presence of similarities (structural, external, functional).

Metaphor often becomes an aesthetic end in itself and displaces the original original meaning of the word.

IN modern theory In metaphors, it is customary to distinguish between diaphora (a sharp, contrasting metaphor) and epiphora (a familiar, erased metaphor).

An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is consistently implemented throughout a large fragment of a message or the entire message as a whole. Model: “The book hunger does not go away: products from the book market increasingly turn out to be stale - they have to be thrown away without even trying.”

A realized metaphor involves operating with a metaphorical expression without taking into account its figurative nature, that is, as if the metaphor had a direct meaning. The result of the implementation of a metaphor is often comic. Model: “I lost my temper and got on the bus.”

Vanya is a real loach; This is not a cat, but a bandit (M.A. Bulgakov);

I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,
Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
Withered in gold,
I won't be young anymore. (S. A. Yesenin)

Comparison

Comparison is a trope in which one object or phenomenon is compared to another according to some characteristic common to them. The purpose of comparison is to identify new, important, advantageous properties for the subject of the statement in the object of comparison.

In comparison, the following are distinguished: the object being compared (object of comparison), the object with which the comparison is taking place (means of comparison), and their common feature (base of comparison, comparative feature). One of the distinctive features of comparison is the mention of both objects being compared, while the common feature is not always mentioned. Comparison should be distinguished from metaphor.

Comparisons are characteristic of folklore.

Types of comparisons

Known different types comparisons:

Comparisons in the form comparative turnover, formed with the help of conjunctions as if, as if, exactly: “A man is stupid as a pig, but cunning as the devil.” Non-union comparisons - in the form of a sentence with a compound nominal predicate: “My home is my fortress.” Comparisons formed using a noun in the instrumental case: “he walks like a gogol.” Negative comparisons: “An attempt is not torture.”

The faded joy of the crazy years is heavy on me, like a vague hangover (A.S. Pushkin);

Below him is a stream of lighter azure (M.Yu. Lermontov);

Metonymy

Metonymy (“renaming”, “name”) is a type of trope, a phrase in which one word is replaced by another, denoting an object (phenomenon) that is in one way or another (spatial, temporal, etc.) connection with the object that is designated replaced word. The replacement word is used in a figurative sense.

Metonymy should be distinguished from metaphor, with which it is often confused: metonymy is based on the replacement of words “by contiguity” (part instead of the whole or vice versa, a representative of a class instead of the whole class or vice versa, container instead of content or vice versa) and metaphor - “by similarity”. A special case of metonymy is synecdoche.

Example: “All flags will visit us,” where “flags” mean “countries” (a part replaces the whole). The meaning of metonymy is that it identifies a property in a phenomenon that, by its nature, can replace the others. Thus, metonymy essentially differs from metaphor, on the one hand, by a greater real interconnection of the replacing members, and on the other, by greater restrictiveness, the elimination of those features that are not directly noticeable in a given phenomenon. Like metaphor, metonymy is inherent in language in general (cf., for example, the word “wiring,” the meaning of which is metonymically extended from an action to its result), but it has a special meaning in artistic and literary creativity.

In early Soviet literature, an attempt to maximize the use of metonymy was made both theoretically and practically by constructivists, who put forward the principle of so-called “locality” (the motivation of verbal means by the theme of the work, that is, limiting them real addiction off topic). However, this attempt was not sufficiently substantiated, since the promotion of metonymy to the detriment of metaphor is illegal: these are two different ways of establishing a connection between phenomena, not exclusive, but complementary.

Types of metonymy:

General language, general poetic, general newspaper, individual author, individual creative.

Examples:

"Hand of Moscow"

“I ate three plates”

“Black tailcoats flashed and rushed separately and in heaps here and there”

Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a trope, a type of metonymy based on the transfer of meaning from one phenomenon to another according to the attribute quantitative ratio between them. Typically used in synecdoche:

Singular instead of plural: “Everything is sleeping - man, beast, and bird.” (Gogol);

Plural instead of singular: “We all look at Napoleons.” (Pushkin);

Part instead of whole: “Do you need anything? “In the roof for my family.” (Herzen);

Generic name instead of specific name: “Well, sit down, luminary.” (Mayakovsky) (instead of: sun);

The specific name instead of the generic name: “Take care of your penny above all else.” (Gogol) (instead of: money).

Hyperbola

Hyperbole (“transition; excess, excess; exaggeration”) is a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration, in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the said thought. For example: “I’ve said this a thousand times” or “we have enough food for six months.”

Hyperbole is often combined with other stylistic devices, giving them an appropriate coloring: hyperbolic comparisons, metaphors (“the waves rose like mountains”). The character or situation portrayed may also be hyperbolic. Hyperbole is also characteristic of the rhetorical and oratorical style, as a means of pathetic elation, as well as the romantic style, where pathos comes into contact with irony.

Examples:

Phraseologisms and catchphrases

"sea of ​​tears"

"fast as lightning", "lightning fast"

"as numerous as the sand on the seashore"

“We haven’t seen each other for a hundred years!”

Prose

Ivan Nikiforovich, on the contrary, has trousers with such wide folds that if they were inflated, the entire yard with barns and buildings could be placed in them.

N. Gogol. The story of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich

A million Cossack caps suddenly poured out onto the square. ...

...for one hilt of my saber they give me the best herd and three thousand sheep.

N. Gogol. Taras Bulba

Poems, songs

About our meeting - what can I say,
I waited for her, as they wait for natural disasters,
But you and I immediately began to live,
Without fear of harmful consequences!

Litotes

Litota, litotes (simplicity, smallness, moderation) - a trope that has the meaning of understatement or deliberate softening.

Litotes is a figurative expression, a stylistic figure, a turn of phrase that contains an artistic understatement of the magnitude, strength of meaning of the depicted object or phenomenon. Litotes in this sense is the opposite of hyperbole, which is why it is also called inverse hyperbole. In litotes, on the basis of some common feature, two dissimilar phenomena are compared, but this feature is represented in the phenomenon-means of comparison to a much lesser extent than in the phenomenon-object of comparison.

For example: “A horse is the size of a cat”, “A person’s life is one moment”, etc.

Many litotes are phraseological units or idioms: “snail’s pace”, “at hand”, “the cat cried for money”, “the sky seemed like a sheepskin”.

Litotes is found in folk and literary fairy tales: “Tom-thumb”, “little-man-nail”, “thumbelina-girl”.

Litota (otherwise: antenantiosis or antenantiosis) is also a stylistic figure of deliberately softening an expression by replacing a word or expression containing a statement of some attribute with an expression that denies the opposite attribute. That is, an object or concept is defined through the negation of the opposite. For example: “smart” - “not stupid”, “agree” - “I don’t mind”, “cold” - “not warm”, “low” - “short”, “famous” - “not unknown”, “dangerous” - “ unsafe”, “good” - “not bad”. In this meaning, litotes is a form of euphemism (a word or descriptive expression that is neutral in meaning and emotional “load”, usually used in texts and public statements to replace other words and expressions considered indecent or inappropriate.).

...and his love for his wife will grow cold

Irony

Irony (“mockery”) is a trope, while the meaning, from the point of view of what it should be, is hidden or contradicts (opposed) to the obvious “meaning”. Irony creates the feeling that the subject of discussion is not what it seems. Irony is the use of words in a negative sense, directly opposite to the literal one. Example: “Well, you are brave!”, “Smart, smart...” Here positive statements have a negative connotation.

Forms of irony

Direct irony is a way to belittle, give a negative or funny character to the phenomenon being described.

Anti-irony is the opposite of direct irony and allows you to present the object of anti-irony as underestimated.

Self-irony is irony aimed at own person. In self-irony and anti-irony, negative statements may imply the opposite (positive) subtext. Example: “Where can we fools drink tea?”

Socratic irony is a form of self-irony, constructed in such a way that the object to which it is addressed seems to independently come to natural logical conclusions and finds the hidden meaning of an ironic statement, following the premises of a subject who “does not know the truth.”

An ironic worldview is a state of mind that allows one not to take common statements and stereotypes on faith, and not to take various “generally accepted values” too seriously.

"Have you sung everything? This is the thing:
So come and dance!" (I. A. Krylov)

Allegory

Allegory (legend) - artistic comparison ideas (concepts) through a specific artistic image or dialogue.

As a trope, allegory is used in poetry, parables, and morality. It arose on the basis of mythology, was reflected in folklore and was developed in fine arts. The main way to depict an allegory is to generalize human concepts; ideas are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy tale characters, inanimate objects that acquire figurative meaning.

Example: justice - Themis (woman with scales).

The nightingale is sad near the fallen rose,
sings hysterically over a flower.
But the garden scarecrow also sheds tears,
loved a rose secretly.

Aydin Khanmagomedov. Two loves

Allegory is the artistic isolation of foreign concepts with the help of specific ideas. Religion, love, soul, justice, discord, glory, war, peace, spring, summer, autumn, winter, death, etc. are depicted and presented as living beings. The qualities and appearance attached to these living beings are borrowed from the actions and consequences of what corresponds to the isolation contained in these concepts, for example, the isolation of battle and war is indicated by means of military weapons, seasons - with the help of flowers, fruits or activities corresponding to them, impartiality - through scales and blindfolds, death - through a clepsydra and a scythe.

Then with reverent relish,
then the soul of a friend in the arms,
like a lily with a poppy,
the soul kisses the heart.

Aydin Khanmagomedov. Kissing pun.

Personification

Personification (personification, prosopopoeia) is a trope, attributing properties and characteristics of animate objects to inanimate ones. Very often, personification is used when depicting nature, which is endowed with certain human traits.

Examples:

And woe, woe, woe!
And grief was girded with a bast,
My legs are tangled with washcloths.

folk song

Personification was common in the poetry of different eras and peoples, from folklore lyrics to the poetic works of romantic poets, from precision poetry to the creativity of the OBERIUTs.

Periphrase

In stylistics and poetics, periphrase (paraphrase, periphrase; “descriptive expression”, “allegory”, “statement”) is a trope that descriptively expresses one concept using several.

Periphrasis is an indirect mention of an object by not naming it, but describing it (for example, “night luminary” = “moon” or “I love you, Peter’s creation!” = “I love you, St. Petersburg!”).

In periphrases, the names of objects and people are replaced by indications of their characteristics, for example, “who writes these lines” instead of “I” in the author’s speech, “fall into sleep” instead of “fall asleep,” “king of beasts” instead of “lion,” “one-armed bandit” instead of "slot machine". There are logical periphrases (“the author of “Dead Souls”) and figurative periphrases (“the sun of Russian poetry”).

Often, periphrasis is used to descriptively express “low” or “forbidden” concepts (“unclean” instead of “devil”, “get by with a handkerchief” instead of “blow your nose”). In these cases, the periphrasis is at the same time a euphemism. // Literary Encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: in 2 volumes - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925. T. 2. P-Ya. - Stb. 984-986.

4. Khazagerov G. G.The system of persuasive speech as homeostasis: oratory, homiletics, didactics, symbolism // Sociological journal. - 2001. - № 3.

5. Nikolaev A. I. Lexical means of expression// Nikolaev A.I. Fundamentals of literary criticism: tutorial for students of philological specialties. - Ivanovo: LISTOS, 2011. - pp. 121-139.

6. Panov M. I. Trails// Pedagogical speech science: Dictionary-reference book / ed. T. A. Ladyzhenskaya, A. K. Michalskaya. M.: Flint; Science, 1998.

7. Toporov V. N. Trails// Linguistic encyclopedic Dictionary/ ch. ed. V. N. Yartseva. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990.

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 bright and expressive, to strengthen 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 belong to different groups of means of artistic expression.

Linguistic scientists distinguish sound or phonetic visual means. Lexical are those that are associated with a specific word, that is, a lexeme. If an expressive device covers a phrase or a whole sentence, then it is syntactic.

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

Where are the means of artistic expression used?

It is worth noting that the means of artistic expression are used not only in literature, but also in various fields communication.

Most often epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons can be found, of course, in artistic and journalistic 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 concept, his image. They are also useful for the reader. With their help, he can penetrate into 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, noun and even a numeral (a common example is second Life).

Most literary scholars consider the epithet as one of the main devices in poetic creativity, decorating poetic speech.

If we turn to the origins of this word, it comes from the ancient Greek concept, literally meaning “attached”. That is, being an addition to the main word, main function which makes 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. Make them stand out key features, while extremely rarely addressing 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 previously inherent in it. This becomes especially noticeable among the poets of the Silver Age.

Nowadays, especially in postmodern literary works, the structure of the epithet has become even more complex. The semantic content of this trope has also increased, leading to surprisingly expressive techniques. For example: the diapers were golden.

Function of epithets

The definitions epithet, metaphor, personification, comparison come down to one thing - all these are artistic means that give prominence and expressiveness to our speech. Both literary and colloquial. The special function of the epithet is also strong emotionality.

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

Epithets serve to realistically recreate a historical era, a certain 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 ancient Greek, metaphor is “transfer of meaning.” This characterizes this concept as well as possible.

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

Moreover, the metaphors that Aristotle used are almost impossible to distinguish from literary exaggeration (hyperbole), ordinary comparison or personification. He understood metaphor much more broadly than modern 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, metaphors become an aesthetic end in themselves, sometimes completely displacing the original meaning of the word.

As an example, literary researchers cite the famous English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. For him, what is often important is not the everyday original meaning of a particular statement, 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 point of view Russia XIX century, many readers of the English playwright adhered to.

At the same time, with the development of literature, metaphor begins not only to reflect, but also to create the life around us. A striking example from classical Russian literature - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's story "The Nose". The nose of the collegiate assessor Kovalev, who went on his own journey around St. Petersburg, is not only a 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 far as possible from its original meaning. Vladimir Mayakovsky often used such techniques. An example is the title of his poem “A Cloud in Pants.”

Moreover, after October revolution The use of metaphor became much less frequent. Soviet poets and writers strived for clarity and straightforwardness, so the need to use words and expressions in a figurative sense disappeared.

Although it’s completely without a metaphor to imagine piece of art, even by Soviet authors, is impossible. Almost everyone uses metaphor words. In Arkady Gaidar's "The Fate of a Drummer" you can find the following phrase - "So we parted ways. The stomping has stopped, and the field is empty."

In Soviet poetry of the 70s, Konstantin Kedrov introduced the concept of “meta-metaphor” or, as it is also called, “metaphor squared”. The metaphor has a new one distinguishing feature- she is constantly involved in development literary language. As well as speech and culture itself as a whole.

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

Personification

In order to understand what personification is in literature, let us turn to the origin of this concept. Like most literary terms, it has its roots in the ancient Greek language. Literally translated it means “face” and “do”. With the help of this literary device, natural forces and phenomena, inanimate objects acquire properties and signs inherent in humans. It’s as if they are 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. Personification 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 human qualities, were associated with gods or supermen. This made it easier for ancient man to accept and understand the reality around him.

Examples of avatars

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

With the help of personification, a special worldview appears. It 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 cosmic object, but as a specific god named Helios.

joyful sadness

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

Very often comparisons are 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 characteristic common to them. The purpose of comparison is to find new and important properties for the subject of artistic expression.

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

Types of comparisons

For a detailed understanding, let us consider what comparison is in literature, examples and varieties of this trope.

It can be used in the form of a comparative phrase: the man is as stupid as a pig.

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

Comparisons are often formed by using a noun in the instrumental case. Classic example: he walks like a nog.