Each word has its own meaning; often we use words not in their own, but in a figurative sense. This happens both in everyday life and in literary works. Words used in a figurative meaning are usually called tropes.

Tropes are the creation of new words by enriching the meaning of existing words.

(The word “zeal” in the 17th and early 18th centuries meant “envy, quarrel”, in the 18th century - “dispute, disagreement”, from the 19th century - “zeal, diligence”)

The doctrine of paths developed in ancient poetics and rhetoric. Aristotle divided words into common and rare, including “figurative”. He called the latter metaphors. Later in science, each type of tropes (Aristotle's metaphor) will receive its own name. There is no consensus among literary theorists about what constitutes tropes. Everyone recognizes metaphor and metonymy as tropes; other types of tropes are questioned.

Why do words take on additional meaning? There is a point of view that language strives to save money.

A. A. Potebnya: when a word is born, three elements stand out in it:

• 1. external shape words (plan of expression (graphic notation, phonetic sound)
• 2. internal form of the word (the feature that formed the basis of the nomination, the closest etymological meaning of the word)
• 3. meaning of the word (find it in the explanatory dictionary)

Often an object is named by one of its qualities (a boa constrictor, a table from a table)

There is a narrowing of meaning, when one of all the attributes of an object is selected, and its expansion: the language gradually forms figurative meanings of words. Polysemy is the polysemy of a word. (tea, warm, lightning, etc.)

In tropes, the main meaning of a word is destroyed, usually due to the destruction of the direct meaning, its secondary characteristics enter into perception. Paths tend to awaken emotional attitude to the topic.

Rhetoric has been dealing with paths for thousands of years.

1. comparison - comparison of the depicted object, or phenomenon, with another object according to a characteristic common to both of them.

Always consists of three things:

• 1. subject
• 2. image
• 3. a sign common to them

Hand(1) cold(3) like ice(2)

There may be a contraction of comparison where the common attribute is omitted.

Hand like ice

Sometimes it is not easy to guess the common sign.

Ancient rhetoricians advised against relating distant objects.

The comparison can be formed:

1. conjunctions: as, as if, as if, exactly, like, etc.

And she herself is majestic,

Protrudes like a peahen;

And as the speech says,

It's like a river babbling.

“Nature amuses itself jokingly, like a carefree child” (Lermontov, Demon)

2. noun in the instrumental case:

Under blue skies

Magnificent carpets,

Glistening in the sun, the snow lies

comparative degree of an adjective or adverb

...and lighter than a shadow

Tatyana jumped into another hallway...

Phraseologisms are like two peas in a pod

A special case is the common comparisons - comparisons, indicating several common features in comparable items. The image acquires an independent meaning, a comparison of two phenomena begins based on one characteristic, and then the others are used. These are the notorious Homeric comparisons.

All rose up and submitted to Atrid, the ruler of the nations,

All sceptron-bearers are Achaeans; the nations floated to the assembly.

Like bees, flying out of mountain caves in swarms,

The thick ones are rushing, every hour there is a new group;

In the form of clusters they curl over spring flowers

But they are like bees or like colorful, nimble wasps,

Having laid their nests along the rocky dusty road,

The poet deploys them, as if forgetting and not caring about the objects that they should depict. Comparison only provides a pretext, an impetus for distraction away from the main flow of the story.

This is also Gogol’s favorite manner. For example, he depicts the barking of dogs in Korobochka’s yard, and one of the voices of this orchestra evokes a common comparison: “all this was finally completed by a bass, perhaps an old man, endowed with a hefty canine nature, because he wheezed, like a singing double bass wheezes, when the concert is in full swing, the tenors rise on tiptoe from strong desire bring out a high note, and everything that is there rushes to the top, throwing back its head, and he alone, with his unshaven chin tucked into his tie, crouching down and sinking almost to the ground, lets out his note from there, from which the glass shakes and rattles.”

Another episode - a picture of a ball:

“Black tailcoats flashed and rushed apart and in heaps here and there, like flies rushing on white shining refined sugar during the hot July summer... the children all looked, gathered around.”

The metaphor seems to demonstrate identity, comparison-separation. Therefore, the image used for comparison easily develops into a completely independent picture, often connected only in one attribute with the object that caused the comparison. The separateness of similar objects in comparison is especially clearly reflected in the special form of negative comparison characteristic of Russian and Serbian poetry. For example: “Not two clouds converged in the sky, two daring knights converged.” Wed. from Pushkin: “Not a flock of ravens flocked to a pile of smoldering bones, - Beyond the Volga at night, a gang of daring people gathered near the fires.”

The comparison can also be formulated as an independent sentence, starting with a conjunction like this:

Water gurgles in marble

And sheds cold tears,

Never stopping.

This is how a mother cries in days of sadness

About a son who died in the war.

Topoi are commonplaces in traditional literature. there are many comparative phrases that are constantly encountered. Familiarity is very relative, because everything new is well forgotten old.

Comparisons are not a trope in the full meaning of the word, because it is not a transfer of meaning, but its coincidence with the direct one. But there is only one step from comparison to trope. Comparison is often considered as a special syntactic form of expression of metaphor, when the latter is connected with the object it expresses through the grammatical connectives “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”, etc., and in Russian these conjunctions can be are omitted, and the subject comparison is expressed in the instrumental case. “The streams of my poems run” (Blok) is a metaphor, but “my poems run like streams” or “my poems run like streams” would be comparisons.

2. metaphor.

Aristotle wrote that making good metaphors means noticing similarities.

An object signified by the direct meaning of a word has some indirect resemblance to an object of figurative meaning. Involuntarily asking ourselves the question why this particular concept is denoted by this word, we quickly look for these secondary features that play a connecting role. The uniqueness of the metaphor: it represents a comparison, the members of which have merged so much that the first member (what was compared) is supplanted and completely replaced by the second (what it was compared with), for example:

Bee from a wax cell

Flies for field tribute.

Cell-hive, tribute - flower nectar. The psychology of the convergence of these concepts is clear, the negative point is important: the lack of direct connections between the concept of cell and beehive and tribute and flower nectar. But in the idea of ​​a cell, secondary signs arise (crowded conditions, reclusive life), similar to the signs accompanying the idea of ​​a beehive. Also, tribute causes foraging signs present during the process of the bee collecting nectar. the first terms are replaced by the second. Metaphor, like any trope, is based on the property of a word that its meaning is based not only on the essential and general qualities of objects (phenomena).

A metaphor can be called a shortened comparison: both an object and an image are combined in one word. A metaphor is defined only in a context, the meaning of which prevents the emergence of a distinct representation in the series of the primary meaning of the word.

Subjective associations that arise when focusing on the potential meaning of a metaphorical word lead to the “realization of metaphor,” that is, an attempt to comprehend and reconcile words in their primary meaning. This implementation of the metaphor creates a comic effect. (imagine a girl’s swan neck and a pearl instead of a mouth?)

Metaphor is not only a phenomenon of poetic style, but also a general linguistic one. Many words in the language are formed metaphorically or are used metaphorically, and the figurative meaning of the word sooner or later displaces the meaning; the word is understood only in its figurative meaning, which is thus no longer recognized as figurative, since its original direct meaning has already faded or even been completely lost. This kind of metaphorical origin is revealed in individual, independent words (skates, window, affection, captivating, formidable, sovet), but even more often in phrases (mill wings, mountain range, pink dreams, hanging by a thread). On the contrary, we should talk about metaphor, as a phenomenon of style, in those cases when both direct and figurative meaning is recognized or felt in a word or in a combination of words. Such poetic metaphors can be: firstly, the result of a new use of words, when a word used in ordinary speech in one meaning or another is given a new, figurative meaning (for example, “And year after year it will sink into a dark crater”; “ ..a frame set in a magnet" - Tyutchev); secondly, the result of renewal, revitalization of faded metaphors of language (for example, “You drink the magical poison of desires”; “Snakes of heartfelt remorse” - Pushkin).

Linguistic metaphors are not metaphors in the stylistic sense, because in them the secondary meaning is recognized as a permanent meaning. Stylistic metaphors should be new and unexpected. But metaphors are often repeated. In poetry there are traditional metaphors: eyes are stars, teeth are pearls - these metaphors are on the threshold of becoming linguistic.

Such worn-out metaphors can be renewed. When updating a metaphor, they resort to the following techniques: the erased word is replaced with an unambiguous synonym. Dostoevsky: these are just flowers, but the real fruit is only ahead! (updating a proverb) Another way to update a metaphor is to develop it, supplement it with an epithet or other words associated with it in direct meaning. Darling - an erased word is renewed with the epithet blue-winged

Poetic metaphor is of the same nature as linguistic metaphor and at the same time differs from it, mainly in its expressiveness and novelty. Cold heart (erased) - snow heart (using a block). Poetic metaphor is rarely limited to one word or phrase. Usually we come across a number of images, the totality of which gives the metaphor emotional or visual perceptibility. Such a combination of several images into one metaphorical system can be different types, which depends on the relationship between direct and figurative meaning and on the degree of clarity and emotionality of the metaphor. The normal form of such an extended metaphor is the case when the connection between the images is supported by both direct and figurative meaning (for example, “We drink from the cup of being with eyes closed» -- Lermontov; “Sad, and crying, and laughing, The streams of my poems ring,” etc. the whole poem - Blok). It is this type of metaphor that easily develops into allegory.

There are mainly two types of metaphors:

1. personification - an image of inanimate objects, in which they are endowed with the properties of living beings.

The snow is still white in the fields,

And in the spring the waters are noisy -

They run and wake up the sleepy shore,

They run and shine and shout...

Spring waters Tyutchev.

Often personifying metaphors create a chain. This kind of metaphor is called extended

July dragging around in clothes

Dandelion fluff, burdock,

July, coming home through the windows,

Everyone talking loudly out loud.

Pastenak. July.

The identification of nature and man is called anthropomorphism.

2. reification - natural phenomena are transferred to a person, to the phenomena of mental life.

My chest was so helplessly cold... (Akhmatova)

Transfers to a synonym for soul-chest - a physical property

Almost any part of speech can become a metaphor.

metaphors-adjectives:

gray stump, leaden thought, pearly eyes

In vocabulary, the main means of expressiveness are trails(translated from Greek - turn, turn, image) - special figurative and expressive means of language, based on the use of words in a figurative meaning.

The main types of tropes include: epithet, comparison, metaphor, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, periphrasis (periphrase), hyperbole, litotes, irony.

Special lexical figurative and expressive means of language (tropes)

Epithet(translated from Greek - application, addition) is a figurative definition that marks an essential feature for a given context in the depicted phenomenon.

The epithet differs from a simple definition in its artistic expressiveness and imagery. The epithet is based on a hidden comparison.

Epithets include all “colorful” definitions, which are most often expressed by adjectives.

For example: sad and orphaned Earth(F.I. Tyutchev), gray fog, lemon light, silent peace(I.A. Bunin).

Epithets can also be expressed:

- nouns , acting as applications or predicates, giving a figurative characteristic of the subject.

For example: sorceress - winter; mother is the damp earth; The poet is a lyre, and not just the nanny of his soul(M. Gorky);

- adverbs , acting as circumstances.

For example: In the wild north it stands alone....(M. Yu. Lermontov); The leaves were tensely stretched in the wind(K. G. Paustovsky);

- participles .

For example: the waves rush thundering and sparkling;

- pronouns , expressing superlative degree one or another state of the human soul.

For example: After all, there were fighting fights, Yes, they say, some more!(M. Yu. Lermontov);

- participles And participial phrases .

For example: Nightingales announce the forest limits with their thundering words(B. L. Pasternak); I also admit the appearance of... greyhound writers who cannot prove where they spent the night yesterday, and who have no other words in their language except the words not remembering kinship (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

The creation of figurative epithets is usually associated with the use of words in a figurative meaning.

From the point of view of the type of figurative meaning of the word acting as an epithet, all epithets are divided into:

metaphorical (they are based on a metaphorical figurative meaning.

For example: a golden cloud, a bottomless sky, a lilac fog, a walking cloud and a standing tree.

Metaphorical epithets– a striking sign of the author’s style:

You are my cornflower blue word,
I love you forever.
How does our cow live now?
Are you tugging at straw sadness?
(S.A. Yesenin. “I haven’t seen such beautiful ones?”);

How greedily the world of the soul is at night
Hears the story of his beloved!
(Tyutchev. “What are you howling about, night wind?”).

metonymic (they are based on metonymic figurative meaning.

For example: suede gait(V.V. Nabokov); scratchy look(M. Gorky); birch cheerful tongue(S. A. Yesenin).

From a genetic point of view epithets are divided into:

- general language (deathly silence, leaden waves),

- folk-poetic (permanent) ( red sun, wild wind, good fellow).

In poetic folklore, an epithet, which together with the word it defines, constitutes a stable phrase, served, in addition to its content, mnemonic function (gr. mnemo nicon- the art of memorization).

Constant epithets made it easier for the singer and narrator to perform the work. Any folklore text is full of such, mostly “decorating”, epithets.

« In folklore, writes literary critic V.P. Anikin, the girl is always beautiful, the fellow is kind, the father is dear, the kids are small, the fellow is daring, the body is white, the hands are white, the tears are flammable, the voice is loud, bow - low, table - oak, wine - green, vodka - sweet, eagle - gray, flower - scarlet, stone - flammable, sand - loose, night - dark, forest - stagnant, mountains - steep, forests - dense, cloud - menacing , the winds are violent, the field is clean, the sun is red, the bow is tight, the tavern is Tsarev, the saber is sharp, the wolf is gray, etc.»

Depending on the genre, the selection of epithets varied somewhat. Recreation of style, or stylization of folk genres, involves the widespread use of constant epithets. So, they abound " A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov» Lermontov: red sun, blue clouds, golden crown, formidable king, daring fighter, strong thought, black thought, hot heart, heroic shoulders, sharp saber etc.

An epithet can incorporate the properties of many tropes . Based on metaphor or at metonymy , it can also be combined with personification... misty and quiet azure above sad and orphaned earth(F.I. Tyutchev), hyperbole (Autumn already knows that such a deep and silent peace is a harbinger of long bad weather(I.A. Bunin) and other paths and figures.

The role of epithets in the text

All epithets as bright, “illuminating” definitions are aimed at enhancing the expressiveness of the images of depicted objects or phenomena, at highlighting their most significant features.

In addition, epithets can:

Strengthen, emphasize any characteristic features items.

For example: Wandering between the rocks, a yellow ray crept into the wild cave and illuminated the smooth skull...(M. Yu. Lermontov);

Specify features object (shape, color, size, quality):.

For example: The forest, like a painted tower, Lilac, golden, crimson, A cheerful, motley wall Stands above a bright clearing(I. A. Bunin);

Create combinations of words that are contrasting in meaning and serve as the basis for creating an oxymoron: wretched luxury(L.N. Tolstoy), brilliant shadow(E. A. Baratynsky);

Convey the author’s attitude towards the depicted, express the author’s assessment and perception of the phenomenon: ...Dead words smell bad(N.S. Gumilyov); And we value the prophetic word, and we honor the Russian word, And we will not change the power of the word(S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky); What does this smiling mean? blessing heaven, this happy, resting earth?(I. S. Turgenev)

Figurative epithets highlight the essential aspects of what is depicted without introducing a direct assessment (“ in the blue sea fog», « in the dead sky" and so on.).

In expressive (lyrical) epithets , on the contrary, the attitude towards the depicted phenomenon is clearly expressed (“ images of crazy people flash», « a languid night story»).

It should be borne in mind that this division is quite arbitrary, since figurative epithets also have an emotional and evaluative meaning.

Epithets are widely used in artistic and journalistic, as well as colloquial and popular scientific styles of speech.

Comparison is a visual technique based on the comparison of one phenomenon or concept with another.

Unlike metaphor comparison is always binomial : it names both compared objects (phenomena, signs, actions).

For example: The villages are burning, they have no protection. The sons of the fatherland are defeated by the enemy, And the glow, like an eternal meteor, Playing in the clouds, frightens the eye.(M. Yu. Lermontov)

Comparisons are expressed in various ways:

Form of the instrumental case of nouns.

For example: Youth flew by like a flying nightingale, Joy faded away like a wave in bad weather.(A.V. Koltsov) The moon slides like a pancake in sour cream.(B. Pasternak) Leaves flew like stars.(D. Samoilov) The flying rain sparkles golden in the sun.(V. Nabokov) Icicles hang like glass fringes.(I. Shmelev) A rainbow hangs from a birch tree with a patterned clean towel.(N. Rubtsov)

Shape comparative degree adjective or adverb.

For example: These eyes are greener than the sea and our cypress trees are darker.(A. Akhmatova) A girl's eyes are brighter than roses.(A.S. Pushkin) But the eyes are bluer than the day.(S. Yesenin) Rowan bushes are more misty than the depths.(S. Yesenin) Youth is more free.(A.S. Pushkin) Truth is more valuable than gold.(Proverb) The throne room is brighter than the sun. M. Tsvetaeva)

Comparative turnover with unions as if, as if, as if and etc.

For example: Like a predatory beast, the winner bursts into the humble monastery with bayonets...(M. Yu. Lermontov) April looks at the birds' flight with eyes as blue as ice.(D. Samoilov) Every village here is so loving, As if it contains the beauty of the whole universe. (A. Yashin) And they stand behind oak nets Like forest evil spirits, hemp.(S. Yesenin) Like a bird in a cage, My heart leaps.(M. Yu. Lermontov) To my poems like precious wines, Your turn will come.(M. I. Tsvetaeva) It's almost noon. The heat is blazing. Like a plowman, the battle rests. (A.S. Pushkin) The past, like the bottom of the sea, spreads like a pattern into the distance.(V. Bryusov)

Beyond the river in peace
The cherry blossomed
Like snow across the river
The stitch was flooded.
Like light snowstorms
They rushed at full speed,
It was as if swans were flying,
They dropped the fluff.(A. Prokofiev)

With words similar, similar, this.

For example: Your eyes are like the eyes of a cautious cat(A. Akhmatova);

Using comparative clauses.

For example: Golden leaves swirled in the pinkish water of the pond, Like a light flock of butterflies, it flies breathlessly towards a star. (S. A. Yesenin) The rain sows, sows, sows, It has been drizzling since midnight, Hanging like a muslin curtain outside the windows. (V. Tushnova) Heavy snow, spinning, covered the Sunless Heights, It was as if hundreds of white wings flew silently. (V. Tushnova) Like a tree silently shedding its leaves, So I drop sad words.(S. Yesenin) How the king loved rich palaces, So I fell in love with the ancient roads And the blue eyes of eternity!(N. Rubtsov)

Comparisons can be direct Andnegative

Negative comparisons are especially characteristic of oral folk poetry and can serve as a way of stylizing the text.

For example: This is not a horse's top, Not human rumor... (A.S. Pushkin)

A special type of comparison is represented by detailed comparisons, with the help of which entire texts can be constructed.

For example, the poem by F. I. Tyutchev “ Like over hot ashes...»:
Like over hot ashes
The scroll smokes and burns
And the fire is hidden and dull
Devours words and lines -

My life is dying so sadly
And every day it goes up in smoke,
So I gradually fade away
In unbearable monotony!..

Oh Heaven, if only once
This flame developed at will -
And, without languishing, without suffering any longer,
I would shine - and go out!

The role of comparisons in text

Comparisons, like epithets, are used in the text in order to enhance its figurativeness and imagery, create more vivid, expressive images and highlighting, emphasizing any significant features of the depicted objects or phenomena, as well as for the purpose of expressing the author’s assessments and emotions.

For example:
I like it, my friend,
When the word melts
And when it sings
The line is covered in heat,
So that words glow from words,
So that when they take flight,
They twisted and fought to sing,
To be eaten like honey.
(A. A. Prokofiev);

In every soul it seems to live, burn, glow, like a star in the sky, and, like a star, goes out when it has finished its life path, flies from our lips... It happens that an extinguished star for us, people on earth, burns for another thousand years. (M. M. Prishvin)

Comparisons as a means of linguistic expressiveness can be used not only in literary texts, but also in journalistic, colloquial, and scientific ones.

Metaphor(translated from Greek - transfer) is a word or expression that is used in a figurative meaning based on the similarity of two objects or phenomena for some reason. Sometimes they say that a metaphor is a hidden comparison.

For example, metaphor A red rowan fire is burning in the garden (S. Yesenin) contains a comparison of rowan brushes with the flame of a fire.

Many metaphors have become commonplace in everyday use and therefore do not attract attention and have lost their imagery in our perception.

For example: the bank has burst, the dollar is walking, my head is spinning and etc.

Unlike a comparison, which contains both what is being compared and what is being compared with, a metaphor contains only the second, which creates compactness and figurativeness in the use of the word.

A metaphor can be based on the similarity of objects in shape, color, volume, purpose, sensations, etc.

For example: a waterfall of stars, an avalanche of letters, a wall of fire, an abyss of grief, a pearl of poetry, a spark of love and etc.

All metaphors are divided into two groups:

1) general language (“erased”)

For example: golden hands, storm in a teacup, moving mountains, heartstrings, love faded ;

2) artistic (individual author’s, poetic)

For example: And the stars fade diamond thrill in the painless cold of dawn (M. Voloshin); Empty skies transparent glass(A. Akhmatova); AND blue, bottomless eyes bloom on the far shore. (A. A. Blok)

Metaphors of Sergei Yesenin: fire of red rowan, cheerful birch tongue of the grove, chintz of the sky; or bloody tears of September, overgrown raindrops, lantern buns and roof donuts at Boris Pasternak's
Metaphor is paraphrased into comparison using auxiliary words as if, like, like, as if and so on.

There are several types of metaphor: erased, expanded, realized.

Erased - a generally accepted metaphor, the figurative meaning of which is no longer felt.

For example: chair leg, headboard, sheet of paper, clock hand and so on.

A whole work or a large excerpt from it can be built on a metaphor. Such a metaphor is called “expanded”, in it the image is “expanded”, that is, revealed in detail.

Thus, the poem by A.S. Pushkin “ Prophet" is an example of an extended metaphor. Transformation of the lyrical hero into a herald of the will of the Lord - a poet-prophet, satisfying him " spiritual thirst“, that is, the desire to know the meaning of existence and find one’s calling, is depicted by the poet gradually: “ six-winged seraph", the messenger of God, transformed the hero with his " right hand» - right hand, which was an allegory of strength and power. By God's authority the lyrical hero received different vision, different hearing, different mental and spiritual abilities. He could " heed“, that is, to comprehend sublime, heavenly values ​​and earthly, material existence, to feel the beauty of the world and its suffering. Pushkin depicts this beautiful and painful process, “ stringing"one metaphor to another: the hero's eyes acquire eagle vigilance, his ears are filled with" noise and ringing"of life, the tongue ceases to be "idle and crafty", conveying the wisdom received as a gift, " trembling heart" turns into " coal burning with fire" The chain of metaphors is held together by the general idea of ​​the work: the poet, as Pushkin wanted him to be, must be a herald of the future and an exposer of human vices, inspiring people with his words, encouraging them to goodness and truth.

Examples of expanded metaphor are often found in poetry and prose (the main part of the metaphor is indicated in italics, its “development” is emphasized):
... let's say goodbye together,
Oh my easy youth!
Thank you for the pleasures
For sadness, for sweet torment,
For the noise, for the storms, for the feasts,
For everything, for all your gifts...
A.S. Pushkin " Eugene Onegin"

We drink from the cup of existence
With eyes closed...
Lermontov "The Cup of Life"

... a boy caught in love
To a girl shrouded in silks...
N. Gumilev " Eagle of Sinbad"

The golden grove dissuaded
Birch cheerful language.
S. Yesenin " The golden grove dissuaded…"

Sad, and crying, and laughing,
The streams of my poems ring
At your feet
And every verse
Runs, weaves a living thread,
Not knowing our own shores.
A. Blok " Sad, and crying, and laughing...."

Save my speech forever for the taste of misfortune and smoke...
O. Mandelstam " Save my speech forever…"

... seethed, washing away kings,
July curve street...
O. Mandelstam " I pray for pity and mercy..."

Now the wind embraces flocks of waves in a strong embrace and throws them with wild anger onto the cliffs, smashing the emerald masses into dust and splashes.
M. Gorky " Song about the Petrel"

The sea has woken up. It played with small waves, giving birth to them, decorating them with a fringe of foam, pushing them against each other and breaking them into fine dust.
M. Gorky " Chelkash"

Realized - metaphor , which again takes on direct meaning. The result of this process at the everyday level is often comical:

For example: I lost my temper and got on the bus

The exam will not take place: all tickets have been sold.

If you go into yourself, don't come back empty-handed and so on.

The simple-minded joker-gravedigger in William Shakespeare's tragedy " Hamlet" to the main character's question about " on what basis"The young prince has lost his mind, replies: " In our Danish" He understands the word " the soil"literally - the top layer of the earth, territory, while Hamlet means figuratively - for what reason, as a result of what."

« Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh's hat! " - the king complains in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin " Boris Godunov" Since the time of Vladimir Monomakh, the crown of Russian tsars has had the shape of a cap. She was decorated precious stones, so it was “heavy” in the literal sense of the word. In figurative terms - “ Monomakh's hat" personified " heaviness", the responsibility of royal power, the grave responsibilities of an autocrat.

In the novel by A.S. Pushkin “ Eugene Onegin“An important role is played by the image of the Muse, who since ancient times has personified the source of poetic inspiration. The expression “the poet was visited by a muse” has a figurative meaning. But the Muse - the poet's friend and inspirer - appears in the novel in the form of a living woman, young, beautiful, cheerful. IN " student cell"It's the Muse" opened a feast of young ideas- pranks and serious arguments about life. She is the one " sang“everything that the young poet strived for - earthly passions and desires: friendship, a cheerful feast, thoughtless joy - “ children's fun" Muse, " how the bacchante frolicked", and the poet was proud of his " frivolous friend».

During her southern exile, Muse appeared as a romantic heroine - a victim of her destructive passions, determined, capable of reckless rebellion. Her image helped the poet create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery in his poems:

How often l ask Muse
I enjoyed the silent path
The magic of a secret story!..

At the turning point of the author’s creative quest, it was she
She appeared as a district young lady,
With a sad thought in his eyes...

Throughout the entire work " affectionate Muse"was true" girlfriend"poet.

The implementation of metaphor is often found in the poetry of V. Mayakovsky. So, in the poem “ A cloud in pants"he implements the popular expression " nerves cleared up" or " I'm on my nerves»:
I hear:
quiet,
like a sick person out of bed,
the nerve jumped.
Here, -
walked first
barely,
then he ran in
excited,
clear.
Now he and the new two
rushing about with desperate tap dancing...
Nerves -
big,
small,
many, -
are jumping madly,
and already
Nervous legs give way!

It should be remembered that the boundary between different types of metaphor is very arbitrary, unstable, and it can be difficult to accurately determine the type.

The role of metaphors in the text

Metaphor is one of the most striking and powerful means of creating expressiveness and imagery in a text.

Through the metaphorical meaning of words and phrases, the author of the text not only enhances the visibility and clarity of what is depicted, but also conveys the uniqueness and individuality of objects or phenomena, while demonstrating the depth and character of his own associative-figurative thinking, vision of the world, the measure of talent (“The most important thing is to be skillful in metaphors. Only this cannot be learned from another - it is a sign of talent" (Aristotle).

Metaphors serve as an important means of expressing the author's assessments and emotions, the author's characteristics of objects and phenomena.

For example: I feel stuffy in this atmosphere! Kites! Owl's nest! Crocodiles!(A.P. Chekhov)

In addition to artistic and journalistic styles, metaphors are characteristic of colloquial and even scientific styles (“ the ozone hole », « electron cloud " and etc.).

Personification- this is a type of metaphor based on the transfer of signs of a living being to natural phenomena, objects and concepts.

More often personifications are used when describing nature.

For example:
Rolling through sleepy valleys,
The sleepy mists have settled,
And only the clatter of horses,
Sounding, it gets lost in the distance.
The day has gone out, turning pale autumn,
Rolling up the fragrant leaves,
Taste dreamless sleep
Half-withered flowers.
(M. Yu. Lermontov)

Less often, personifications are associated with the objective world.

For example:
Isn't it true, never again
Will we not part? Enough?..
AND the violin answered Yes,
But the violin's heart was hurting.
The bow understood everything, he fell silent,
And in the violin the echo was still there...
And it was torment for them,
What people thought was music.
(I. F. Annensky);

There was something good-natured and at the same time cozy in the faces of this house. (D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak)

Personifications- the paths are very old, their roots go back to pagan antiquity and therefore occupy such an important place in mythology and folklore. The Fox and the Wolf, the Hare and the Bear, the epic Serpent Gorynych and the Foul Idol - all these and other fantastic and zoological characters from fairy tales and epics are familiar to us from early childhood.

One of the literary genres closest to folklore, the fable, is based on personification.

Even today it is unthinkable to imagine works of art without personification; our everyday speech is unthinkable without them.

Figurative speech not only visually represents an idea. Its advantage is that it is shorter. Instead of describing an object in detail, we can compare it with an already known object.

It is impossible to imagine poetic speech without using this technique:
"The storm covers the sky with darkness
Whirling snow whirlwinds
Then, like a beast, she will howl,
She will cry like a child."(A.S. Pushkin)

The role of personifications in the text

Personifications serve to create bright, expressive and imaginative pictures of something, enhancing conveyed thoughts and feelings.

Personification as a means of expression is used not only in artistic style, but also in journalistic and scientific.

For example: X-rays show, the device says, the air heals, something is stirring in the economy.

The most common metaphors are formed on the principle of personification, when an inanimate object receives the properties of an animate one, as if acquiring a face.

1. Typically, the two components of a personification metaphor are a subject and a predicate: " the blizzard was angry», « the golden cloud spent the night», « the waves are playing».

« Get angry", that is, only a person can experience irritation, but " snowstorm", a blizzard, plunging the world into cold and darkness, also brings " evil". « Spend the night"Only living beings are capable of sleeping peacefully at night, " cloud" represents a young woman who has found an unexpected shelter. Marine " waves"in the poet's imagination" play", like children.

We often find examples of metaphors of this type in the poetry of A.S. Pushkin:
Not suddenly delights will abandon us...
A mortal dream flies over him...
My days have flown by...
The spirit of life awakened in him...
The Fatherland caressed you...
Poetry awakens in me...

2. Many personification metaphors are built according to the method of control: “ lyre singing», « the talk of the waves», « fashion darling», « happiness darling" and etc.

A musical instrument is like the human voice, and it too " sings", and the splashing of the waves resembles a quiet conversation. " Favorite», « darling"happens not only to people, but also to wayward ones" fashion"or the fickle one" happiness».

For example: “winter threat”, “the voice of the abyss”, “the joy of sadness”, “the day of despondency”, “the son of laziness”, “threads ... of fun”, “brother by muse, by fate”, “victim of slander”, “cathedrals wax faces ”, “language of joy”, “burden of sorrow”, “hope of young days”, “pages of malice and vice”, “sacred voice”, “by the will of passions”.

But there are metaphors formed differently. The criterion of difference here is the principle of animateness and inanimateness. An inanimate object does NOT receive the properties of an animate object.

1). Subject and predicate: “desire is boiling”, “eyes are burning”, “heart is empty”.

Desire in a person can manifest itself to a strong degree, seethe and “ boil" The eyes, showing excitement, shine and “ are burning" A heart and soul that are not warmed by feeling can become “ empty».

For example: “I learned grief early, I was overcome by persecution”, “our youth will not suddenly fade”, “noon... was burning”, “the moon is floating”, “conversations flow”, “stories spread out”, “love... faded”, “I am calling the shadow ", "life has fallen."

2). Phrases constructed according to the method of control can also, being metaphors, NOT be personification: “ dagger of treason», « tomb of glory», « chain of clouds" and etc.

Steel arms - " dagger" - kills a person, but " treason“is like a dagger and can also destroy and break life. " Tomb“This is a crypt, a grave, but not only people can be buried, but also glory, worldly love. " Chain"consists of metal links, but " clouds", intricately intertwined, forming a kind of chain in the sky.

For example: “flattery of a necklace”, “twilight of freedom”, “forest... of voices”, “clouds of arrows”, “noise of poetry”, “bell of brotherhood”, “incandescence of poetry”, “fire... of black eyes”, “salt of solemn grievances”, “ the science of parting", "flame of southern blood" .

Many metaphors of this kind are formed according to the principle of reification, when the defined word receives the properties of some substance or material: “crystal windows”, “gold hair” .

On a sunny day, the window seems to sparkle like " crystal", and the hair takes on color " gold" The hidden comparison inherent in the metaphor is especially noticeable here.

For example: “in the black velvet of the Soviet night, in the velvet of universal emptiness”, “poems... grape meat”, “crystal of high notes”, “poems like rattling pearls”.

The language of poetry is completely different from spoken language. The unprepared reader is convinced of this immediately. Moreover, misunderstanding of poetic language often turns the first encounter with poetry into the last.

Does poetry lose anything from this? Not sure. But he who has not had the patience to understand this language deprives himself of the beauty and power of art.

What does it mean - the language of poetry? Obviously, this is a system of expressive means that poetry uses to convey to the reader the richness and diversity of emotional and semantic content.

Of course, emotional intensity can be conveyed to some extent by poetic rhythms, poetic phonetics, that is, the sound structure of a work, and poetic syntax with its own special syntactic turns, often used in poetic speech.

But the expressive possibilities of poetry are not limited to this. Even more so - in poetic works individual means of expression do not exist on their own. Poetry is not summed up by the number of methods it uses.

Where did they come from?

In order not to frighten the unprepared reader even more, it should be noted that metaphors and epithets in their specific form come to us from poetic language, in which they have their own strict scope of application, dive into colloquial speech and return back.

I go out alone on the road;

Through the fog the flinty path shines...

It should be noted, in order not to get confused in definitions later, that a “verse” is any complete thought expressed in one, most often, phrase. Rhythm and rhyme are not the basis of poetry. The basis of poetry is thought. And the thought itself is formed by a set of epithets and metaphors.

Epithet

Epithet translated from Greek epitheton, means “ attached". In normal Russian, this correlates well with an adjective. Any adjective is essentially an epithet. Why is an epithet needed in ordinary colloquial speech? An epithet is a clarifying sign. For example, when asked to give you a drum, and there are several of them in front of you, you try to clarify which drum you are asked to serve.

• Give me the drum. The soul requires a drum...
• Which drum should I give you? I have several of them here.
• Give me the red drum. The soul requires something red.

The necessary clarification has been received. The epithet “little red” has done its colloquial work.

Now you can easily find an epithet in Lermontov’s verse. And this epithet is “siliceous”. And he not only squeezes himself into this good poem, but he explains why the path shines in the first place. Because it’s flinty, and not because after the rain it’s covered in puddles.

Metaphor

Metaphor has a completely different purpose. She has no required precision, like an epithet. The purpose of metaphor is comparison.

The night is quiet. The desert listens to God,

And star speaks to star...

Poetic traditions often require implicit metaphors and some cultural background on the part of the reader, so poetic metaphors are more difficult to understand than those found in ordinary speech.

Phrase " The desert listens to God"This is, of course, a metaphor. The desert has nothing to listen to God with, except perhaps saxaul. The reader who believes the poet tries to get used to the idea presented to him by the author of the lines. Yeah! The desert is the state of the poet's soul. Now it’s clear why the desert listens to God. Because the “poet” listens to God - which is already warmer. Many more meanings can be found for this verse, due to the fact that the metaphor does not require precision. It requires transferring values. That is, comparisons.

And this definition of metaphor is true not only for verbal art, but also for everyday speech. When we say: “Today we light,” we do not mean a specific fire that we will light today. Human linguistic creative activity fully realizes itself in colloquial speech, and not only in literary works. This is how colorful speech patterns arise that amaze us with their expressiveness. New expressions, built on original associations, link the transmission of meaning to thoughts.

Artistic values

The epithet is initial expressive means poetry, which, however, does not negate its artistic value. It is found in everyday language and in all verbal arts.

Metaphor is also not tied only to poetic language. As a comparison, she is part of colloquial speech. In its desire for figurative expressions, it manifests itself in all forms of linguistic communication. And yet, metaphor is much closer to poetic expression, since it combines a figurative principle. The artistic effect of comparison lies in its unpredictability or ambiguity, especially if known things are compared with each other.

Both in epithets and metaphors a lot of varieties. It is believed that metaphor arose in ancient times from the inherent to primitive man a tendency to spiritualize nature, attributing human traits to it. The reverse train of thought is similar - human qualities are described using natural quantities. But most likely this idea is itself a metaphor and compares what we understand now with the origins of human antiquity. The importance of metaphor lies in the very process of learning something new, something yet unknown.

Efficiency

The most valuable quality of an epithet is its clarifying effect. The effect of a metaphor, if it is built on new associations, always carries a wealth of meanings, the spirit of new discoveries and surprises. This is the difference between a metaphor and an epithet.

Metaphor

Metaphor

METAPHOR - a type of trope (see), the use of a word in a figurative meaning; a phrase that characterizes a given phenomenon by transferring to it features inherent in another phenomenon (due to one or another similarity of the related phenomena), something like this. arr. replaces him. The uniqueness of M. as a type of trope is that it represents a comparison, the members of which have merged so much that the first member (what was compared) is supplanted and completely replaced by the second (what was compared with), for example. “A bee from a wax cell / Flies for a field tribute” (Pushkin), where honey is compared with tribute and a beehive with a cell, with the first terms being replaced by the second. M., like any trope, is based on the property of a word that its meaning is based not only on the essential and general qualities of objects (phenomena), but also on the whole wealth of its secondary definitions and individual qualities and properties. Eg. in the word “star” we, along with the essential and general meaning(celestial body) we also have a number of secondary and individual signs - the radiance of a star, its remoteness, etc. M. arises thanks to the use of “secondary” meanings of words, which makes it possible to establish new connections between them (a secondary sign of tribute is that its collect; cells - its cramped, etc.). For artistic thinking, these “secondary” signs, which express moments of sensory clarity, are a means of revealing through them the essential features of the reflected class reality. M. enriches our understanding of a given object, attracting new phenomena to characterize it, expanding our understanding of its properties. Hence the cognitive meaning of metaphor. M., like a trope in general, is a general linguistic phenomenon, but it acquires special significance in fiction, since for a writer striving for the most concretized, individualized figurative display of reality, M. gives the opportunity to highlight the most diverse properties, features, details of a phenomenon, bringing it closer together. with others, etc. The very quality of M. and its place in the literary style are naturally determined by specific historical class conditions. And those concepts with which the writer operates, and their secondary meanings and their connections with other concepts, reflecting to one degree or another the connections of phenomena in reality - all this is determined by the historically conditioned nature of the writer’s class consciousness, i.e., ultimately account of the real life process that he is aware of. Hence the class character of M., its different historical content: different styles correspond to different metaphorical systems, principles of metaphorization; at the same time, the attitude towards M. is different within the same style, depending on the orientation and characteristics of literary skill, as well as within the work of one writer (Gorky’s metaphors in the story “The Old Woman Izergil” and in “The Life of Klim Samgin”), within one work (the image of the officer and the image of Nilovna in Gorky’s “Mother”), even within the development of one image (M.’s wealth, which characterizes Nilovna, in the last part of the book and their absence in the first). So. arr. M acts as one of the means of creating a given artistic image, and only in a specific analysis can the place, meaning and quality of metaphor in a given work, creativity, or style be established, since in metaphor we also have one of the moments of class reflection of reality. Trope, Lexicon.

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Metaphor

(Greek metaphora - transference), view trail; transfer of a feature from object to object based on their associative connection, subjectively perceived similarity. Metaphor is used in works of art when describing objects to emphasize their subtle properties, to present them from an unusual angle. There are three main types of metaphors: personification - the transfer of a sign of a living person to an inanimate object - “Like white the dress sang in the beam..." ("The girl sang in the church choir..." by A. A. Blok); reification - transfer of a sign of an inanimate object to a living person - “ Heads we cheat people Oak trees..." (“Working Poet” by V.V. Mayakovsky); distraction - transfer of a sign of a concrete phenomenon (person or object) to an abstract, abstract phenomenon - “Then humbles himself in my soul anxiety..." ("When the yellowing field is worried..." M. Yu. Lermontov). Historically stable types of metaphors are known that existed in different national literatures of a certain period. These are the kennings (Icelandic kenning - definition) in the poetry of the early Middle Ages: “horse of the sea” is an Old Norse metaphor for a ship, “the way of the whales” is an Anglo-Saxon metaphor for the ocean. Any metaphor of the indicated main types can extend to the entire text of the work and materialize its meaning in the form of plot actions, i.e. become allegory. Metaphors are more common in poetic speech; in works in which the proportion of fiction exceeds the proportion of fact. Metaphor is one of the main features of the folklore genre puzzles.

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

Metaphor

METAPHOR(Greek Μεταφορά - transference) - a type of trope based on association by similarity or analogy. So, old age can be called In the evening or autumn of life, since all these three concepts are associated by their common sign of approaching the end: life, day, year. Like other tropes (metonymy, synecdoche), metaphor is not only a phenomenon of poetic style, but also a general linguistic one. Many words in the language are formed metaphorically or are used metaphorically, and the figurative meaning of the word sooner or later replaces the meaning, the word is understood only in its figurative meaning, which is thus no longer recognized as figurative, since its original direct meaning has already faded or even been completely lost. This kind of metaphorical origin is revealed in separate, independent words ( skates, window, affection, captivating, menacing, become aware), but even more often in phrases ( wings mills, mountain ridge, pink dreams, hang by a thread). On the contrary, we should talk about metaphor, as a phenomenon of style, in those cases when both direct and figurative meaning is recognized or felt in a word or in a combination of words. Such poetic metaphors can be: firstly, the result of new word usage, when a word used in ordinary speech in one meaning or another is given a new, figurative meaning (for example, “And it will sink into the dark vent year after year"; "..the body is set in magnet" - Tyutchev); secondly, the result renewal, revitalization faded metaphors of language (e.g., “You drink the magic poison of desires"; "Snakes of the heart remorse" - Pushkin). The relationship between two meanings in a poetic metaphor can be of further different degrees. Either a direct or figurative meaning can be brought to the fore, and the other can, as it were, accompany it, or both meanings can be in a certain balance with each other (an example of the latter is from Tyutchev: “A thunderstorm, surging in a cloud, will confuse heavenly azure"). In most cases, we find a poetic metaphor at the stage of overshadowing the direct meaning with the figurative, while the direct meaning only gives emotional coloring metaphor, which is where its poetic effectiveness lies (for example, “In the blood the fire is burning desires" - Pushkin). But one cannot deny or even consider as an exception those cases when the direct meaning of a metaphor not only does not lose its figurative perceptibility, but comes to the fore, the image retains clarity, becomes a poetic reality, the metaphor is realized. (For example, “Life is a mouse’s scurry” - Pushkin; “Her soul shimmered like transparent blue ice” - Blok). Poetic metaphor is rarely limited to one word or phrase. Usually we come across a number of images, the totality of which gives the metaphor emotional or visual perceptibility. Such a combination of several images into one metaphorical system can be of different types, which depends on the relationship between the direct and figurative meaning and on the degree of clarity and emotionality of the metaphor. This is the normal look extended metaphor represents the case when the connection between images is supported by both direct and figurative meaning (for example, “We drink from the cup of existence with our eyes closed” - Lermontov; “Sad, and crying, and laughing, The streams of my poems Ring,” etc.) d. the whole poem - Blok). It is this type of metaphor that is easily developed in allegory(cm.). If the connection between the images included in the extended metaphor is supported by only one meaning, only direct or only figurative, then different forms are obtained catachresis(see) For example, from Bryusov: “I was entangled in black moisture Her flowing hair”, where the connection between the internally contradictory images of “entangled” and “moisture” is supported by the figurative meaning of the image black moisture = hair; from Blok: “I’m quiet I weave it into dark curls Secret poems precious diamond", where there is a contradiction of a different order: the image of a diamond, as a metaphor for poetry, independently unfolds, is realized, forming a catachresis in relation to the main figurative meaning: I weave poems into my curls. Finally, we must also indicate a special type of deployment of metaphor with catachresis, namely, when the main metaphor evokes another, derivative, metaphorically confined to direct the meaning of the first. So, from Pushkin: “In the silence of the night, live are burning there are snakes of heartfelt remorse in me,” where are burning there is a metaphorical predicate for remorse, taken only in literally: they can burn wounds, and therefore bites, stings of a snake, but cannot burn with remorse. There can be several such derivative metaphors, or one derivative metaphor can, in turn, give rise to another new derivative, etc., so that a kind of metaphorical chain is formed. Particularly striking examples of such deployment of metaphors are found in our poetry in Blok. (See a detailed analysis of his metaphorical style in the article by V. M. Zhirmunsky, Poetry of Alexander Blok, P. 1922). It would be difficult to accurately establish for different types of poetic metaphors the degree of their emotionality, clarity and, in general, their poetic realization, since the matter depends on subjective perception and resonance with them. But the study of the individual poetics of the author (or literary group) in relation to his general worldview allows us to speak with sufficient objectivity about the aesthetic significance of metaphors in a particular poetic style. On metaphor, see poetics and stylistics, which are indicated with these words and with the article about trails>>. A. Biesse's book is specifically dedicated to metaphor. Die Philosophie des Metaphorischen, Hamburg und Leipzig 1893 and the unfinished work of Fr. Brinkmann, Die Metaphern I. Bd. Bonn 1878.

M. Petrovsky. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

Synonyms:

See what “Metaphor” is in other dictionaries:

- (transfer, Greek) the most extensive form of trope, rhetoric. a figure representing the likening of one concept or representation to another, the transference of significant features or characteristics of the latter to it, its use in... ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

- (Greek metaphora transfer, meta, and phero I carry). Allegorical expression; trope, which consists in the fact that the name of one concept is transferred to another based on the similarity between them. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language.... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (from the Greek metaphora - transfer, image) replacement of an ordinary expression with a figurative one (for example, a ship of the desert); metaphorically - in a figurative sense, figuratively. Philosophical encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010. METAPHOR… Philosophical Encyclopedia

Metaphor- METAPHOR (Greek Μεταφορα transference) is a type of trope based on association by similarity or analogy. Thus, old age can be called the evening or autumn of life, since all these three concepts are associated by their common feature of approaching... Dictionary of literary terms

METAPHOR- METAPHOR, metaphorical (Greek metaphorá), type of trope, transfer of the properties of one object (phenomenon or aspect of being) to another, according to the principle of their similarity in some respect or contrast. Unlike comparison, where both terms are present... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary

metaphor- METAPHOR (from the Greek metaphora transfer) is the central trope of language, a complex figurative semantic structure, representing a special way of cognition, carried out through the generation of images arising as a result of interaction... ... Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

Metaphor- Metaphor ♦ Metaphore Stylistic figure. Implicit comparison, the use of one word instead of another based on some analogy or similarity between the things being compared. The number of metaphors is truly endless, but we will only give... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary