TRAILS AND STYLISTIC FIGURES.
TRAILS(Greek tropos - turn, turn of speech) - words or figures of speech in a figurative, allegorical meaning. Paths are an important element of artistic thinking. Types of tropes: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes, etc.
STYLISTIC FIGURES- figures of speech used to enhance the expressiveness of a statement: anaphora, epiphora, ellipse, antithesis, parallelism, gradation, inversion, etc.
HYPERBOLA (Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) - a type of trope based on exaggeration (“rivers of blood”, “sea of laughter”). By means of hyperbole, the author enhances the desired impression or emphasizes what he glorifies and what he ridicules. Hyperbole is already found in ancient epics among different peoples, in particular in Russian epics.
In the Russian litera, N.V. Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin and especially
V. Mayakovsky (“I”, “Napoleon”, “150,000,000”). In poetic speech, hyperbole is often intertwinedwith other artistic means (metaphors, personification, comparisons, etc.). Opposite – litotes.
LITOTA (Greek litotes - simplicity) - a trope opposite to hyperbole; a figurative expression, a turn of phrase that contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength, or significance of the depicted object or phenomenon. Litotes is found in folk tales: “a boy as big as a finger,” “a hut on chicken legs,” “a little man as big as a fingernail.”
The second name for litotes is meiosis. The opposite of litotes is hyperbola.
N. Gogol often turned to litotes:
“Such a small mouth that it can’t miss more than two pieces” N. Gogol
METAPHOR(Greek metaphora - transfer) - a trope, a hidden figurative comparison, the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on common characteristics (“work is in full swing”, “forest of hands”, “dark personality”, “heart of stone”...). In metaphor, as opposed to
comparisons, the words “as”, “as if”, “as if” are omitted, but are implied.
Nineteenth century, iron,
Truly a cruel age!
By you into the darkness of the night, starless
Careless abandoned man!
A. Blok
Metaphors are formed according to the principle of personification (“water runs”), reification (“nerves of steel”), abstraction (“field of activity”), etc. Various parts of speech can act as a metaphor: verb, noun, adjective. Metaphor gives speech exceptional expressiveness:
In every carnation there is fragrant lilac,
A bee crawls in singing...
You ascended under the blue vault
Above the wandering crowd of clouds...
A. Fet
The metaphor is an undifferentiated comparison, in which, however, both members are easily seen:
With a sheaf of your oat hair
You stuck with me forever...
The dog's eyes rolled
Golden stars in the snow...
S. Yesenin
In addition to verbal metaphor, metaphorical images or extended metaphors are widespread in artistic creativity:
Ah, the bush of my head has withered,
I was sucked into song captivity,
I am condemned to hard labor of feelings
Turning the millstone of poems.
S. Yesenin
Sometimes the entire work represents a broad, expanded metaphorical image.
METONYMY(Greek metonymia - renaming) - trope; replacing one word or expression with another based on similar meanings; the use of expressions in a figurative sense ("foaming glass" - meaning wine in a glass; "the forest is noisy" - meaning trees; etc.).
The theater is already full, the boxes are sparkling;
The stalls and the chairs, everything is boiling...
A.S. Pushkin
In metonymy, a phenomenon or object is denoted using other words and concepts. At the same time, the signs or connections that bring these phenomena together are preserved; Thus, when V. Mayakovsky speaks of a “steel orator dozing in a holster,” the reader easily recognizes in this image a metonymic image of a revolver. This is the difference between metonymy and metaphor. The idea of a concept in metonymy is given with the help of indirect signs or secondary meanings, but this is precisely what enhances the poetic expressiveness of speech:
You led swords to a bountiful feast;
Everything fell with a noise before you;
Europe was dying; grave sleep
Hovered over her head...
A. Pushkin
When is the shore of hell
Will take me forever
When he falls asleep forever
Feather, my joy...
A. Pushkin
PERIPHRASE (Greek periphrasis - roundabout turn, allegory) - one of the tropes in which the name of an object, person, phenomenon is replaced by an indication of its signs, as a rule, the most characteristic ones, enhancing the figurativeness of speech. (“king of birds” instead of “eagle”, “king of beasts” - instead of “lion”)
PERSONALIZATION(prosopopoeia, personification) - a type of metaphor; transferring the properties of animate objects to inanimate ones (the soul sings, the river plays...).
My bells
Steppe flowers!
Why are you looking at me?
Dark blue?
And what are you calling about?
On a merry day in May,
Among the uncut grass
Shaking your head?
A.K. Tolstoy
SYNECDOCHE (Greek synekdoche - correlation)- one of the tropes, a type of metonymy, consisting in the transfer of meaning from one object to another based on the quantitative relationship between them. Synecdoche is an expressive means of typification. The most common types of synecdoche:
1) A part of a phenomenon is called in the sense of the whole:
And at the door -
pea coats,
overcoats,
sheepskin coats...
V. Mayakovsky
2) The whole in the meaning of the part - Vasily Terkin in a fist fight with a fascist says:
Oh, there you are! Fight with a helmet?
Well, aren't they a vile bunch!
3) The singular number in the meaning of general and even universal:
There a man groans from slavery and chains...
M. Lermontov
And the proud grandson of the Slavs, and the Finn...
A. Pushkin
4) Replacing a number with a set:
Millions of you. We are darkness, and darkness, and darkness.
A. Blok
5) Replacing the generic concept with a specific one:
We beat ourselves with pennies. Very good!
V. Mayakovsky
6) Replacing the specific concept with a generic one:
"Well, sit down, luminary!"
V. Mayakovsky
COMPARISON – a word or expression containing the likening of one object to another, one situation to another. (“Strong as a lion”, “said as he cut”...). The storm covers the sky with darkness,
Whirling snow whirlwinds;
The way the beast will howl,
Then he will cry like a child...
A.S. Pushkin
“Like a steppe scorched by fires, Gregory’s life became black” (M. Sholokhov). The idea of the blackness and gloom of the steppe evokes in the reader that melancholy and painful feeling that corresponds to Gregory’s state. There is a transfer of one of the meanings of the concept - “scorched steppe” to another - the internal state of the character. Sometimes, in order to compare some phenomena or concepts, the artist resorts to detailed comparisons:
The view of the steppe is sad, where there are no obstacles,
Disturbing only the silver feather grass,
The flying aquilon wanders
And he freely drives dust in front of him;
And where all around, no matter how vigilantly you look,
Meets the gaze of two or three birch trees,
Which are under the bluish haze
They turn black in the empty distance in the evening.
So life is boring when there is no struggle,
Penetrating into the past, discerning
There are few things we can do in it, in the prime of life
She will not amuse the soul.
I need to act, I do every day
I would like to make him immortal, like a shadow
Great hero, and understand
I can't, what does it mean to rest.
M. Lermontov
Here, with the help of the detailed S. Lermontov conveys a whole range of lyrical experiences and reflections.
Comparisons are usually connected by conjunctions “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”, etc. Non-union comparisons are also possible:
“Do I have fine curls - combed flax” N. Nekrasov. Here the conjunction is omitted. But sometimes it is not intended:
“The execution in the morning, the usual feast for the people” A. Pushkin.
Some forms of comparison are constructed descriptively and therefore are not connected by conjunctions:
And she appears
At the door or at the window
The early star is brighter,
Morning roses are fresh.
A. Pushkin
She's cute - I'll say between us -
Storm of the court knights,
And maybe with the southern stars
Compare, especially in poetry,
Her Circassian eyes.
A. Pushkin
A special type of comparison is the so-called negative:
The red sun does not shine in the sky,
The blue clouds do not admire him:
Then at mealtimes he sits in a golden crown
The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich is sitting.
M. Lermontov
In this parallel depiction of two phenomena, the form of negation is both a method of comparison and a method of transferring meanings.
A special case is represented by the instrumental case forms used in comparison:
It's time, beauty, wake up!
Open your closed eyes,
Towards northern Aurora
Be the star of the north.
A. Pushkin
I don't soar - I sit like an eagle.
A. Pushkin
Often there are comparisons in the form of the accusative case with the preposition “under”:
“Sergei Platonovich... sat with Atepin in the dining room, covered with expensive oak wallpaper...”
M. Sholokhov.
IMAGE -a generalized artistic reflection of reality, clothed in the form of a specific individual phenomenon. Poets think in images.
It is not the wind that rages over the forest,
Streams did not run from the mountains,
Moroz - commander of the patrol
Walks around his possessions.
ON THE. Nekrasov
ALLEGORY(Greek allegoria - allegory) - a specific image of an object or phenomenon of reality, replacing an abstract concept or thought. A green branch in the hands of a person has long been an allegorical image of the world, a hammer has been an allegory of labor, etc.
The origin of many allegorical images should be sought in the cultural traditions of tribes, peoples, nations: they are found on banners, coats of arms, emblems and acquire a stable character.
Many allegorical images go back to Greek and Roman mythology. Thus, the image of a blindfolded woman with scales in her hands - the goddess Themis - is an allegory of justice, the image of a snake and a bowl is an allegory of medicine.
Allegory as a means of enhancing poetic expressiveness is widely used in fiction. It is based on the convergence of phenomena according to the correlation of their essential aspects, qualities or functions and belongs to the group of metaphorical tropes.
Unlike metaphor, in allegory the figurative meaning is expressed by a phrase, a whole thought, or even a small work (fable, parable).
GROTESQUE (French grotesque - whimsical, comical) - an image of people and phenomena in a fantastic, ugly-comic form, based on sharp contrasts and exaggerations.
Enraged, I rush into the meeting like an avalanche,
Spewing wild curses on the way.
And I see: half the people are sitting.
Oh devilishness! Where is the other half?
V. Mayakovsky
IRONY (Greek eironeia - pretense) - expression of ridicule or deceit through allegory. A word or statement acquires a meaning in the context of speech that is opposite to the literal meaning or denies it, casting doubt on it.
Servant of powerful masters,
With what noble courage
Thunder with your free speech
All those who have their mouths covered.
F.I. Tyutchev
SARCASM (Greek sarkazo, lit. - tearing meat) - contemptuous, caustic ridicule; the highest degree of irony.
ASSONANCE (French assonance - consonance or response) - repetition of homogeneous vowel sounds in a line, stanza or phrase.
Oh spring without end and without edge -
An endless and endless dream!
A. Blok
ALLITERATION (SOUNDS)(Latin ad - to, with and littera - letter) - repetition of homogeneous consonants, giving the verse a special intonational expressiveness.
Evening. Seaside. Sighs of the wind.
The majestic cry of the waves.
A storm is coming. It hits the shore
A black boat alien to enchantment...
K. Balmont
ALLUSION (from Latin allusio - joke, hint) - a stylistic figure, a hint through a similar-sounding word or mention of a well-known real fact, historical event, literary work (“the glory of Herostratus”).
ANAPHORA(Greek anaphora - carrying out) - repetition of the initial words, line, stanza or phrase.
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
Mother Rus'!…
ON THE. Nekrasov
ANTITHESIS (Greek antithesis - contradiction, opposition) - a sharply expressed opposition of concepts or phenomena.
You are rich, I am very poor;
You are a prose writer, I am a poet;
You are blushing like poppies,
I am like death, skinny and pale.
A.S. Pushkin
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless...
N. Nekrasov
So few roads have been traveled, so many mistakes have been made...
S. Yesenin.
Antithesis enhances the emotional coloring of speech and emphasizes the thought expressed with its help. Sometimes the entire work is built on the principle of antithesis
APOCOPE(Greek apokope - cutting off) - artificially shortening a word without losing its meaning.
...When suddenly he came out of the forest
The bear opened its mouth at them...
A.N. Krylov
Barking, laughing, singing, whistling and clapping,
Human rumor and horse top!
A.S. Pushkin
ASYNDETON (asyndeton) - a sentence with the absence of conjunctions between homogeneous words or parts of a whole. A figure that gives speech dynamism and richness.
Night, street, lantern, pharmacy,
Pointless and dim light.
Live for at least another quarter of a century -
Everything will be like this. There is no outcome.
A. Blok
MULTI-UNION(polysyndeton) - excessive repetition of conjunctions, creating additional intonation coloring. The opposite figure isnon-union
Slowing down speech with forced pauses, polyunion emphasizes individual words and enhances its expressiveness:
And the waves crowd and rush back,
And they come again and hit the shore...
M. Lermontov
And it’s boring and sad, and there’s no one to give a hand to...
M.Yu. Lermontov
GRADATION- from lat. gradatio - gradualism) is a stylistic figure in which definitions are grouped in a certain order - increasing or decreasing their emotional and semantic significance. Gradation enhances the emotional sound of the verse:
I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,
Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
S. Yesenin
INVERSION(Latin inversio - rearrangement) - a stylistic figure consisting of a violation of the generally accepted grammatical sequence of speech; rearrangement of parts of a phrase gives it a unique expressive tone.
Legends of deep antiquity
A.S. Pushkin
He passes the doorman with an arrow
Flew up the marble steps
A. Pushkin
OXYMORON(Greek oxymoron - witty-stupid) - a combination of contrasting words with opposite meanings (living corpse, giant dwarf, heat of cold numbers).
PARALLELISM(from the Greek parallelos - walking next to) - identical or similar arrangement of speech elements in adjacent parts of the text, creating a single poetic image.
The waves splash in the blue sea.
The stars shine in the blue sky.
A. S. Pushkin
Your mind is as deep as the sea.
Your spirit is as high as the mountains.
V. Bryusov
Parallelism is especially characteristic of works of oral folk art (epics, songs, ditties, proverbs) and literary works close to them in their artistic features (“Song about the merchant Kalashnikov” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N. A Nekrasov, “Vasily Terkin” by A. T, Tvardovsky).
Parallelism can have a broader thematic nature in content, for example, in the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “Heavenly clouds are eternal wanderers.”
Parallelism can be either verbal or figurative, or rhythmic or compositional.
PARCELLATION- an expressive syntactic technique of intonation division of a sentence into independent segments, graphically highlighted as independent sentences. (“And again. Gulliver. Standing. Slouching.” P. G. Antokolsky. “How courteous! Kind! Sweet! Simple!” Griboedov. “Mitrofanov grinned, stirred the coffee. He narrowed his eyes.”
N. Ilyina. “He soon quarreled with the girl. And that’s why.” G. Uspensky.)
TRANSFER (French enjambement - stepping over) - a discrepancy between the syntactic division of speech and the division into poetry. When transferring, the syntactic pause inside a verse or hemistich is stronger than at the end.
Peter comes out. His eyes
They shine. His face is terrible.
The movements are fast. He is beautiful,
He's like God's thunderstorm.
A. S. Pushkin
RHYME(Greek “rhythmos” - harmony, proportionality) - a variety epiphora ; the consonance of the ends of poetic lines, creating a feeling of their unity and kinship. Rhyme emphasizes the boundary between verses and links verses into stanzas.
ELLIPSIS (Greek elleipsis - deletion, omission) - a figure of poetic syntax based on the omission of one of the members of a sentence, easily restored in meaning (most often the predicate). This achieves dynamism and conciseness of speech and conveys a tense change of action. Ellipsis is one of the types of default. In artistic speech, it conveys the speaker’s excitement or the tension of the action:
We sat down in ashes, cities in dust,
Swords include sickles and plows.
You've probably heard more than once that Russian is one of the most difficult languages. Why? It's all about the design of the speech. Means of expression make our words richer, poems more expressive, prose more interesting. It is impossible to clearly convey thoughts without using special lexical figures, because the speech will sound poor and ugly.
Let's figure out what types of expressive means the Russian language is and where to find them.
Perhaps at school you wrote essays poorly: the text “didn’t flow”, the words were chosen with difficulty, and it was generally unrealistic to finish the presentation with a clear thought. The fact is that the necessary syntactic means are put into the head by reading books. However, they alone are not enough to write interestingly, colorfully and easily. You need to develop your skill through practice.
Just compare the next two columns. On the left is text without means of expression or with a minimal amount of them. On the right is text rich in expressiveness. These are often found in the literature.
It would seem like three banal sentences, but how interesting they can be described! Expressive language helps the viewer see the picture you are trying to describe. There is an art to using them, but it is not difficult to master. It is enough to read a lot and pay attention to the interesting techniques used by the author.
For example, in the paragraph of text on the right, epithets are used, thanks to which the subject is instantly presented as bright and unusual. What will the reader remember better - an ordinary cat or a fat commander cat? Rest assured that the second option will probably be more to your liking. And there won’t be such embarrassment that in the middle of the text the cat will suddenly be white, but the reader has long imagined it as gray!
So, syntactic means are special techniques of artistic expression that prove, justify, depict information and engage the imagination of the reader or listener. This is extremely important not only for written, but also for oral speech. Especially if the speech or text is written in . However, in both cases, the means of expression in the Russian language should be in moderation. Do not oversaturate the reader or listener with them, otherwise he will quickly get tired of making his way through such a “jungle”.
Existing means of expression
There are a lot of such special techniques, and it is unlikely that you know everything about them. Let's start with the fact that you don't need to use all means of expressiveness at once - this makes speech difficult. You need to use them in moderation, but not skimp. Then you will achieve the desired effect.
Traditionally they are divided into several groups:
- phonetic - most often found in poems;
- lexical (tropes);
- stylistic figures.
Let's try to deal with them in order. And to make it more convenient for you, after the explanation, all the expressive means of the language are presented in convenient tablets - you can print them out and hang them on the wall so that you can re-read them from time to time. This way you can learn them unobtrusively.
Phonetic techniques
Among phonetic techniques, the two most common are alliteration and assonance. They differ only in that in the first case the consonants are repeated, in the second - the vowels.
This technique is very convenient to use in poems when there are few words, but you need to convey the atmosphere. Yes, and poetry is most often read aloud, and assonance or alliteration helps to “see” the picture.
Suppose we need to describe a swamp. In the swamp there are reeds that rustle. The beginning of the line is ready - the reeds rustle. We can already hear this sound, but this is not enough to complete the picture.
Do you hear the reeds seem to rustle and hiss silently? Now we can feel this atmosphere. This technique is called alliteration - consonant letters are repeated.
Likewise with assonance, repetition of vowels. This one is a little easier. For example: I hear a spring thunderstorm, then I fall silent, then I sing. With this, the author conveys a lyrical mood and spring sadness. The effect is achieved through the skillful use of vowels. A table will help explain what assonance is.
Lexical devices (tropes)
Lexical devices are used much more often than other means of expression. The fact is that people often use them unconsciously. For example, we can say that our heart is lonely. But the heart cannot actually be lonely, it is just an epithet, a means of expression. However, such expressions help emphasize the deeper meaning of what is being said.
The main lexical devices include the following tropes:
- epithet;
- comparison as a means of expressive speech;
- metaphor;
- metonymy;
- irony;
- hyperbole and litotes.
Sometimes we use these lexical units unconsciously. For example, comparison pops up in everyone’s speech - this means of expressiveness has become firmly established in everyday life, so it must be used wisely.
Metaphor is a more interesting form of comparison because we are not comparing slow death to cigarettes by using the word “as if.” We already understand that slow death is a cigarette. Or, for example, the expression “dry clouds”. Most likely, this means that it has not rained for a long time. Epithet and metaphor often overlap, so when analyzing the text it is important not to confuse them.
Hyperbole and litotes are exaggeration and understatement, respectively. For example, the expression “the sun has absorbed the power of a hundred fires” is a clear hyperbole. And “quietly, quieter than a stream” is litotes. These phenomena have also become firmly established in everyday life.
Metonymy and periphrasis are interesting phenomena. Metonymy is a shortening of what is said. For example, there is no need to talk about Chekhov's books as “books that Chekhov wrote.” You can use the expression “Chekhov’s books”, and this will be a metonymy.
And periphrasis is the deliberate replacement of concepts with synonymous ones in order to avoid tautology in the text.
Although, with the right skill, tautology can also be a means of expression!
Lexical means of expressiveness in speech also include:
- archaisms (outdated vocabulary);
- historicisms (vocabulary related to a specific historical period);
- neologisms (new vocabulary);
- phraseological units;
- dialectisms, jargon, aphorisms.
| Means of expression | Definition | Example and explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Epithet | A definition that helps add color to an image. Often used figuratively. | Bloody sky. (Talks about sunrise.) |
| Comparison as a means of expressive speech | Comparing objects with each other. They may not be related, but even vice versa. | Means of expression, like expensive jewelry, exalt our speech. |
| Metaphor | “Hidden comparison” or figurative. More complex than a simple comparison, comparative conjunctions are not used. | Seething anger. (The man gets angry). Sleepy city. (The morning city that has not yet woken up). |
| Metonymy | Replacing words in order to shorten an understandable sentence or avoid tautology. | I read Chekhov’s books (and not “I read books by Chekhov”). |
| Irony | An expression with the opposite meaning. Hidden mockery. | You're a genius, of course! (The irony is that here “genius” is used to mean “stupid”). |
| Hyperbola | Deliberate exaggeration of what was said. | Brighter than a thousand fiery lightning bolts. (Dazzling, bright show). |
| Litotes | Deliberate reduction of what was said. | Weak as a mosquito. |
| Periphrase | Replacement of words in order to avoid tautology. Replacement can only be a related word. | The house is a hut on chicken legs, the lion is the king of animals, etc. |
| Allegory | An abstract concept that helps to reveal an image. Most often it is an established designation. | Fox meaning cunning, wolf meaning strength and rudeness, turtle meaning slowness or wisdom. |
| Personification | Transferring the properties and feelings of a living object to an inanimate one. | The lantern seemed to sway on a long thin leg - it reminded me of a boxer preparing for a swift attack. |
Stylistic figures
Stylistic figures often contain special grammatical structures. The most commonly used include:
- anaphora and epiphora;
- compositional joint;
- antithesis;
- oxymoron or paradox;
- inversion;
- parcellation;
- ellipsis;
- rhetorical questions, exclamations, appeals;
- asyndeton.
Anaphora and epiphora are often classified as phonetic devices, but this is an erroneous judgment. Such techniques of artistic expression are pure stylistics. Anaphora is the same beginning of several lines, epiphora is the same ending. Most often they are used in poetry, sometimes in prose, to emphasize drama and growing anxiety, or to enhance the poetry of the moment.
A compositional junction is a deliberate “escalation” of a conflict. The word is used at the end of one sentence and at the beginning of the next. It gave me everything, the word. The Word helped me become who I am. This technique is called a compositional junction.
Antithesis is the opposition of two antipodal concepts: yesterday and today, night and day, death and life. Interesting techniques include parcellation, which is used to increase conflict and change the pace of the narrative, as well as ellipsis - the omission of a sentence member. Often used in exclamations and calls.
| Means of expression | Definition | Example and explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Anaphora | The same beginning of several lines. | Let's join hands, brothers. Let's hold hands and connect our hearts. Let us take up swords to end the war. |
| Epiphora | Same ending for multiple lines. | I wash it wrong! I'm ironing wrong! All wrong! |
| Compositional joint | One sentence ends with this word, and the second sentence begins with it. | I didn't know what to do. What to do to survive this storm. |
| Antithesis | Opposition | I came to life every second, but after that I died every evening. (Used to demonstrate drama). |
| Oxymoron | Using concepts that contradict each other. | Hot ice, peaceful war. |
| Paradox | An expression that has no direct meaning, but carries an aesthetic meaning. | The hot hands of the dead man were more alive than all the others. Hurry up as slowly as possible. |
| Inversion | Deliberate rearrangement of words in a sentence. | I was sad that night, I was afraid of everything in this world. |
| Parcellation | Breaking words down into separate sentences. | He waited. Again. Slouching over, he cried. |
| Ellipsis | Deliberate omission of a word. | Let's get to work! (the word “let’s take” is missing). |
| Gradation | Increasing expression, using synonyms according to the degree of increase. | His eyes, cold, emotionless, dead, expressed nothing. (Used to demonstrate drama). |
Features of the use of means of expression
We should not forget that gestures are also used in spoken Russian speech. Sometimes they are more eloquent than ordinary means of expression, but in the skillful combination of these figures. Then the role will turn out to be lively, rich and bright.
Do not try to insert as many stylistic or lexical figures into your speech as possible. This will not make the word richer, but it will give you the feeling that you have “put on” too many decorations on yourself, which is why you have become uninteresting. Means of expression are like a skillfully selected accessory. Sometimes you don’t even notice it right away, it is so harmoniously intertwined in a sentence with other words.
TRAILS AND STYLISTIC FIGURES.
TRAILS(Greek tropos - turn, turn of speech) - words or figures of speech in a figurative, allegorical meaning. Paths are an important element of artistic thinking. Types of tropes: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes, etc.
STYLISTIC FIGURES- figures of speech used to enhance the expressiveness of a statement: anaphora, epiphora, ellipse, antithesis, parallelism, gradation, inversion, etc.
HYPERBOLA (Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) - a type of trope based on exaggeration (“rivers of blood”, “sea of laughter”). By means of hyperbole, the author enhances the desired impression or emphasizes what he glorifies and what he ridicules. Hyperbole is already found in ancient epics among different peoples, in particular in Russian epics.
In the Russian litera, N.V. Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin and especially
V. Mayakovsky (“I”, “Napoleon”, “150,000,000”). In poetic speech, hyperbole is often intertwinedwith other artistic means (metaphors, personification, comparisons, etc.). Opposite – litotes.
LITOTA (Greek litotes - simplicity) - a trope opposite to hyperbole; a figurative expression, a turn of phrase that contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength, or significance of the depicted object or phenomenon. Litotes is found in folk tales: “a boy as big as a finger,” “a hut on chicken legs,” “a little man as big as a fingernail.”
The second name for litotes is meiosis. The opposite of litotes is hyperbola.
N. Gogol often turned to litotes:
“Such a small mouth that it can’t miss more than two pieces” N. Gogol
METAPHOR(Greek metaphora - transfer) - a trope, a hidden figurative comparison, the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on common characteristics (“work is in full swing”, “forest of hands”, “dark personality”, “heart of stone”...). In metaphor, as opposed to
comparisons, the words “as”, “as if”, “as if” are omitted, but are implied.
Nineteenth century, iron,
Truly a cruel age!
By you into the darkness of the night, starless
Careless abandoned man!
A. Blok
Metaphors are formed according to the principle of personification (“water runs”), reification (“nerves of steel”), abstraction (“field of activity”), etc. Various parts of speech can act as a metaphor: verb, noun, adjective. Metaphor gives speech exceptional expressiveness:
In every carnation there is fragrant lilac,
A bee crawls in singing...
You ascended under the blue vault
Above the wandering crowd of clouds...
A. Fet
The metaphor is an undifferentiated comparison, in which, however, both members are easily seen:
With a sheaf of your oat hair
You stuck with me forever...
The dog's eyes rolled
Golden stars in the snow...
S. Yesenin
In addition to verbal metaphor, metaphorical images or extended metaphors are widespread in artistic creativity:
Ah, the bush of my head has withered,
I was sucked into song captivity,
I am condemned to hard labor of feelings
Turning the millstone of poems.
S. Yesenin
Sometimes the entire work represents a broad, expanded metaphorical image.
METONYMY(Greek metonymia - renaming) - trope; replacing one word or expression with another based on similar meanings; the use of expressions in a figurative sense ("foaming glass" - meaning wine in a glass; "the forest is noisy" - meaning trees; etc.).
The theater is already full, the boxes are sparkling;
The stalls and the chairs, everything is boiling...
A.S. Pushkin
In metonymy, a phenomenon or object is denoted using other words and concepts. At the same time, the signs or connections that bring these phenomena together are preserved; Thus, when V. Mayakovsky speaks of a “steel orator dozing in a holster,” the reader easily recognizes in this image a metonymic image of a revolver. This is the difference between metonymy and metaphor. The idea of a concept in metonymy is given with the help of indirect signs or secondary meanings, but this is precisely what enhances the poetic expressiveness of speech:
You led swords to a bountiful feast;
Everything fell with a noise before you;
Europe was dying; grave sleep
Hovered over her head...
A. Pushkin
When is the shore of hell
Will take me forever
When he falls asleep forever
Feather, my joy...
A. Pushkin
PERIPHRASE (Greek periphrasis - roundabout turn, allegory) - one of the tropes in which the name of an object, person, phenomenon is replaced by an indication of its signs, as a rule, the most characteristic ones, enhancing the figurativeness of speech. (“king of birds” instead of “eagle”, “king of beasts” - instead of “lion”)
PERSONALIZATION(prosopopoeia, personification) - a type of metaphor; transferring the properties of animate objects to inanimate ones (the soul sings, the river plays...).
My bells
Steppe flowers!
Why are you looking at me?
Dark blue?
And what are you calling about?
On a merry day in May,
Among the uncut grass
Shaking your head?
A.K. Tolstoy
SYNECDOCHE (Greek synekdoche - correlation)- one of the tropes, a type of metonymy, consisting in the transfer of meaning from one object to another based on the quantitative relationship between them. Synecdoche is an expressive means of typification. The most common types of synecdoche:
1) A part of a phenomenon is called in the sense of the whole:
And at the door -
pea coats,
overcoats,
sheepskin coats...
V. Mayakovsky
2) The whole in the meaning of the part - Vasily Terkin in a fist fight with a fascist says:
Oh, there you are! Fight with a helmet?
Well, aren't they a vile bunch!
3) The singular number in the meaning of general and even universal:
There a man groans from slavery and chains...
M. Lermontov
And the proud grandson of the Slavs, and the Finn...
A. Pushkin
4) Replacing a number with a set:
Millions of you. We are darkness, and darkness, and darkness.
A. Blok
5) Replacing the generic concept with a specific one:
We beat ourselves with pennies. Very good!
V. Mayakovsky
6) Replacing the specific concept with a generic one:
"Well, sit down, luminary!"
V. Mayakovsky
COMPARISON – a word or expression containing the likening of one object to another, one situation to another. (“Strong as a lion”, “said as he cut”...). The storm covers the sky with darkness,
Whirling snow whirlwinds;
The way the beast will howl,
Then he will cry like a child...
A.S. Pushkin
“Like a steppe scorched by fires, Gregory’s life became black” (M. Sholokhov). The idea of the blackness and gloom of the steppe evokes in the reader that melancholy and painful feeling that corresponds to Gregory’s state. There is a transfer of one of the meanings of the concept - “scorched steppe” to another - the internal state of the character. Sometimes, in order to compare some phenomena or concepts, the artist resorts to detailed comparisons:
The view of the steppe is sad, where there are no obstacles,
Disturbing only the silver feather grass,
The flying aquilon wanders
And he freely drives dust in front of him;
And where all around, no matter how vigilantly you look,
Meets the gaze of two or three birch trees,
Which are under the bluish haze
They turn black in the empty distance in the evening.
So life is boring when there is no struggle,
Penetrating into the past, discerning
There are few things we can do in it, in the prime of life
She will not amuse the soul.
I need to act, I do every day
I would like to make him immortal, like a shadow
Great hero, and understand
I can't, what does it mean to rest.
M. Lermontov
Here, with the help of the detailed S. Lermontov conveys a whole range of lyrical experiences and reflections.
Comparisons are usually connected by conjunctions “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”, etc. Non-union comparisons are also possible:
“Do I have fine curls - combed flax” N. Nekrasov. Here the conjunction is omitted. But sometimes it is not intended:
“The execution in the morning, the usual feast for the people” A. Pushkin.
Some forms of comparison are constructed descriptively and therefore are not connected by conjunctions:
And she appears
At the door or at the window
The early star is brighter,
Morning roses are fresh.
A. Pushkin
She's cute - I'll say between us -
Storm of the court knights,
And maybe with the southern stars
Compare, especially in poetry,
Her Circassian eyes.
A. Pushkin
A special type of comparison is the so-called negative:
The red sun does not shine in the sky,
The blue clouds do not admire him:
Then at mealtimes he sits in a golden crown
The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich is sitting.
M. Lermontov
In this parallel depiction of two phenomena, the form of negation is both a method of comparison and a method of transferring meanings.
A special case is represented by the instrumental case forms used in comparison:
It's time, beauty, wake up!
Open your closed eyes,
Towards northern Aurora
Be the star of the north.
A. Pushkin
I don't soar - I sit like an eagle.
A. Pushkin
Often there are comparisons in the form of the accusative case with the preposition “under”:
“Sergei Platonovich... sat with Atepin in the dining room, covered with expensive oak wallpaper...”
M. Sholokhov.
IMAGE -a generalized artistic reflection of reality, clothed in the form of a specific individual phenomenon. Poets think in images.
It is not the wind that rages over the forest,
Streams did not run from the mountains,
Moroz - commander of the patrol
Walks around his possessions.
ON THE. Nekrasov
ALLEGORY(Greek allegoria - allegory) - a specific image of an object or phenomenon of reality, replacing an abstract concept or thought. A green branch in the hands of a person has long been an allegorical image of the world, a hammer has been an allegory of labor, etc.
The origin of many allegorical images should be sought in the cultural traditions of tribes, peoples, nations: they are found on banners, coats of arms, emblems and acquire a stable character.
Many allegorical images go back to Greek and Roman mythology. Thus, the image of a blindfolded woman with scales in her hands - the goddess Themis - is an allegory of justice, the image of a snake and a bowl is an allegory of medicine.
Allegory as a means of enhancing poetic expressiveness is widely used in fiction. It is based on the convergence of phenomena according to the correlation of their essential aspects, qualities or functions and belongs to the group of metaphorical tropes.
Unlike metaphor, in allegory the figurative meaning is expressed by a phrase, a whole thought, or even a small work (fable, parable).
GROTESQUE (French grotesque - whimsical, comical) - an image of people and phenomena in a fantastic, ugly-comic form, based on sharp contrasts and exaggerations.
Enraged, I rush into the meeting like an avalanche,
Spewing wild curses on the way.
And I see: half the people are sitting.
Oh devilishness! Where is the other half?
V. Mayakovsky
IRONY (Greek eironeia - pretense) - expression of ridicule or deceit through allegory. A word or statement acquires a meaning in the context of speech that is opposite to the literal meaning or denies it, casting doubt on it.
Servant of powerful masters,
With what noble courage
Thunder with your free speech
All those who have their mouths covered.
F.I. Tyutchev
SARCASM (Greek sarkazo, lit. - tearing meat) - contemptuous, caustic ridicule; the highest degree of irony.
ASSONANCE (French assonance - consonance or response) - repetition of homogeneous vowel sounds in a line, stanza or phrase.
Oh spring without end and without edge -
An endless and endless dream!
A. Blok
ALLITERATION (SOUNDS)(Latin ad - to, with and littera - letter) - repetition of homogeneous consonants, giving the verse a special intonational expressiveness.
Evening. Seaside. Sighs of the wind.
The majestic cry of the waves.
A storm is coming. It hits the shore
A black boat alien to enchantment...
K. Balmont
ALLUSION (from Latin allusio - joke, hint) - a stylistic figure, a hint through a similar-sounding word or mention of a well-known real fact, historical event, literary work (“the glory of Herostratus”).
ANAPHORA(Greek anaphora - carrying out) - repetition of the initial words, line, stanza or phrase.
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
Mother Rus'!…
ON THE. Nekrasov
ANTITHESIS (Greek antithesis - contradiction, opposition) - a sharply expressed opposition of concepts or phenomena.
You are rich, I am very poor;
You are a prose writer, I am a poet;
You are blushing like poppies,
I am like death, skinny and pale.
A.S. Pushkin
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless...
N. Nekrasov
So few roads have been traveled, so many mistakes have been made...
S. Yesenin.
Antithesis enhances the emotional coloring of speech and emphasizes the thought expressed with its help. Sometimes the entire work is built on the principle of antithesis
APOCOPE(Greek apokope - cutting off) - artificially shortening a word without losing its meaning.
...When suddenly he came out of the forest
The bear opened its mouth at them...
A.N. Krylov
Barking, laughing, singing, whistling and clapping,
Human rumor and horse top!
A.S. Pushkin
ASYNDETON (asyndeton) - a sentence with the absence of conjunctions between homogeneous words or parts of a whole. A figure that gives speech dynamism and richness.
Night, street, lantern, pharmacy,
Pointless and dim light.
Live for at least another quarter of a century -
Everything will be like this. There is no outcome.
A. Blok
MULTI-UNION(polysyndeton) - excessive repetition of conjunctions, creating additional intonation coloring. The opposite figure isnon-union
Slowing down speech with forced pauses, polyunion emphasizes individual words and enhances its expressiveness:
And the waves crowd and rush back,
And they come again and hit the shore...
M. Lermontov
And it’s boring and sad, and there’s no one to give a hand to...
M.Yu. Lermontov
GRADATION- from lat. gradatio - gradualism) is a stylistic figure in which definitions are grouped in a certain order - increasing or decreasing their emotional and semantic significance. Gradation enhances the emotional sound of the verse:
I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,
Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
S. Yesenin
INVERSION(Latin inversio - rearrangement) - a stylistic figure consisting of a violation of the generally accepted grammatical sequence of speech; rearrangement of parts of a phrase gives it a unique expressive tone.
Legends of deep antiquity
A.S. Pushkin
He passes the doorman with an arrow
Flew up the marble steps
A. Pushkin
OXYMORON(Greek oxymoron - witty-stupid) - a combination of contrasting words with opposite meanings (living corpse, giant dwarf, heat of cold numbers).
PARALLELISM(from the Greek parallelos - walking next to) - identical or similar arrangement of speech elements in adjacent parts of the text, creating a single poetic image.
The waves splash in the blue sea.
The stars shine in the blue sky.
A. S. Pushkin
Your mind is as deep as the sea.
Your spirit is as high as the mountains.
V. Bryusov
Parallelism is especially characteristic of works of oral folk art (epics, songs, ditties, proverbs) and literary works close to them in their artistic features (“Song about the merchant Kalashnikov” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N. A Nekrasov, “Vasily Terkin” by A. T, Tvardovsky).
Parallelism can have a broader thematic nature in content, for example, in the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “Heavenly clouds are eternal wanderers.”
Parallelism can be either verbal or figurative, or rhythmic or compositional.
PARCELLATION- an expressive syntactic technique of intonation division of a sentence into independent segments, graphically highlighted as independent sentences. (“And again. Gulliver. Standing. Slouching.” P. G. Antokolsky. “How courteous! Kind! Sweet! Simple!” Griboedov. “Mitrofanov grinned, stirred the coffee. He narrowed his eyes.”
N. Ilyina. “He soon quarreled with the girl. And that’s why.” G. Uspensky.)
TRANSFER (French enjambement - stepping over) - a discrepancy between the syntactic division of speech and the division into poetry. When transferring, the syntactic pause inside a verse or hemistich is stronger than at the end.
Peter comes out. His eyes
They shine. His face is terrible.
The movements are fast. He is beautiful,
He's like God's thunderstorm.
A. S. Pushkin
RHYME(Greek “rhythmos” - harmony, proportionality) - a variety epiphora ; the consonance of the ends of poetic lines, creating a feeling of their unity and kinship. Rhyme emphasizes the boundary between verses and links verses into stanzas.
ELLIPSIS (Greek elleipsis - deletion, omission) - a figure of poetic syntax based on the omission of one of the members of a sentence, easily restored in meaning (most often the predicate). This achieves dynamism and conciseness of speech and conveys a tense change of action. Ellipsis is one of the types of default. In artistic speech, it conveys the speaker’s excitement or the tension of the action:
We sat down in ashes, cities in dust,
Swords include sickles and plows.
Russian language is one of the richest, most beautiful and complex. Not least of all, what makes it so is the presence of a large number of means of verbal expression.
In this article we will look at what a linguistic device is and what types it comes in. Let's look at examples of use from fiction and everyday speech.
Linguistic means in the Russian language - what is it?
The description of the most ordinary object can be made beautiful and unusual by using linguistic
Words and expressions that give expressiveness to the text are conventionally divided into three groups: phonetic, lexical (aka tropes) and stylistic figures.
To answer the question of what a linguistic device is, let’s take a closer look at them.
Lexical means of expression
Tropes are linguistic means in the Russian language that are used by the author in a figurative, allegorical meaning. Widely used in works of art.
Paths serve to create visual, auditory, and olfactory images. They help create a certain atmosphere and produce the desired effect on the reader.
The basis of lexical means of expressiveness is hidden or explicit comparison. It may be based on external similarity, personal associations of the author, or the desire to describe the object in a certain way.
Basic language means: tropes
We have been exposed to trails since we were in school. Let's remember the most common of them:
- The epithet is the most famous and common trope. Often found in poetic works. An epithet is a colorful, expressive definition that is based on a hidden comparison. Emphasizes the features of the described object, its most expressive features. Examples: “ruddy dawn”, “easy character”, “golden hands”, “silver voice”.
- Simile is a word or expression based on the comparison of one object with another. Most often it is formalized in the form of a comparative turnover. You can recognize it by the use of conjunctions characteristic of this technique: as if, as if, as if, as, exactly, that. Let's look at examples: “transparent like dew,” “white like snow,” “straight like a reed.”
- Metaphor is a means of expression based on hidden comparison. But, unlike it, it is not formalized by unions. A metaphor is built by relying on the similarity of two objects of speech. For example: “church onions”, “whisper of grass”, “tears of heaven”.
- Synonyms are words that are similar in meaning, but differ in spelling. In addition to classical synonyms, there are contextual ones. They take on a specific meaning within a particular text. Let's get acquainted with the examples: “jump - jump”, “look - see”.
- Antonyms are words that have directly opposite meanings to each other. Like synonyms, they can be contextual. Example: “white - black”, “shout - whisper”, “calm - excitement”.
- Personification is the transfer of signs and characteristic features of an animate object to an inanimate object. For example: “the willow shook its branches,” “the sun smiled brightly,” “the rain was knocking on the roofs,” “the radio was chirping in the kitchen.”
Are there other paths?
There are a lot of means of lexical expressiveness in the Russian language. In addition to the group that everyone is familiar with, there are also those that are unknown to many, but are also widely used:
- Metonymy is the replacement of one word with another that has a similar or the same meaning. Let's look at the examples: “hey, blue jacket (addressing a person in a blue jacket)”, “the whole class opposed (meaning all the students in the class).”
- Synecdoche is a transfer of comparison from a part to a whole, and vice versa. Example: “one could hear the Frenchman rejoicing (the author is talking about the French army)”, “an insect flew in”, “there were a hundred heads in the herd.”
- Allegory is an expressive comparison of ideas or concepts using an artistic image. Most often found in fairy tales, fables and parables. For example, a fox symbolizes cunning, a hare - cowardice, and a wolf - anger.
- Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration. Serves to make the text more expressive. Places emphasis on a certain quality of an object, person or phenomenon. Let's look at the examples: “words destroy hope,” “his act is the highest evil,” “he has become forty times more beautiful.”
- Litota is a special understatement of real facts. For example: “he was thinner than a reed,” “he was no taller than a thimble.”
- Periphrasis is the replacement of a word or expression with a synonymous combination. Used to avoid lexical repetitions in one or adjacent sentences. Example: “the fox is a cunning cheat”, “the text is the brainchild of the author.”
Stylistic figures
Stylistic figures are linguistic means in the Russian language that give speech a certain imagery and expressiveness. They change the emotional coloring of its meanings.
Widely used in poetry and prose since the times of ancient poets. However, modern and older interpretations of the term differ.
In ancient Greece, it was believed that stylistic figures are linguistic means of language, which in their form differ significantly from everyday speech. Now it is believed that figures of speech are an integral part of spoken language.
What are the stylistic figures?
Stylistics offers a lot of its own resources:
- Lexical repetitions (anaphora, epiphora, compositional junction) are expressive linguistic means that include repetition of any part of a sentence at the beginning, end, or at the junction with the next one. For example: “It was a beautiful sound. It was the best voice I've heard in years."
- Antithesis - one or more sentences built on the basis of opposition. For example, consider the phrase: “I drag myself in the dust and soar in the skies.”
- Gradation is the use in a sentence of synonyms arranged according to the degree of increase or decrease of a characteristic. Example: “The sparkles on the New Year’s tree shone, burned, shone.”
- An oxymoron is the inclusion in a phrase of words that contradict each other in meaning and cannot be used in the same composition. The most striking and famous example of this stylistic figure is “Dead Souls”.
- Inversion is a change in the classical order of words in a sentence. For example, not “he ran,” but “he ran.”
- Parcellation is the division of a sentence with a single meaning into several parts. For example: “Opposite Nikolai. He looks without blinking."
- Polyconjunction is the use of conjunctions to connect homogeneous members of a sentence. Used for greater speech expressiveness. Example: “It was a strange and wonderful and wonderful and mysterious day.”
- Non-union - connections of homogeneous members in a sentence are carried out without unions. For example: “He was thrashing about, screaming, crying, moaning.”
Phonetic means of expression
Phonetic means of expression are the smallest group. They involve repeating certain sounds to create picturesque artistic images.
This technique is most often used in poetry. Authors use repetition of sounds when they want to convey the sound of thunder, rustling leaves or other natural phenomena.
Phonetics also help to give poetry a certain character. By using certain combinations of sounds, the text can be made harder, or vice versa, softer.
What phonetic means exist?
- Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonants in the text, creating the image necessary for the author. For example: “With my dreams I caught the passing shadows, the passing shadows of the faded day.”
- Assonance is the repetition of certain vowel sounds in order to create a vivid artistic image. For example: “Do I wander along noisy streets, or enter a crowded temple.”
- Onomatopoeia is the use of phonetic combinations that convey a certain clatter of hooves, the sound of waves, or the rustling of leaves.
Use of verbal means of expressiveness
Linguistic means in the Russian language have been widely used and continue to be used in literary works, be it prose or poetry.
Writers of the Golden Age demonstrate excellent mastery of stylistic figures. Due to the masterful use of expressive means, their works are colorful, imaginative, and pleasing to the ear. It’s not for nothing that they are considered a national treasure of Russia.
We encounter linguistic means not only in fiction, but also in everyday life. Almost every person uses comparisons, metaphors, and epithets in his speech. Without realizing it, we make our language beautiful and rich.
When we talk about art and literary creativity, we are focused on the impressions that are created when reading. They are largely determined by the imagery of the work. In fiction and poetry, there are special techniques for enhancing expressiveness. A competent presentation, public speaking - they also need ways to construct expressive speech.
For the first time, the concept of rhetorical figures, figures of speech, appeared among the orators of ancient Greece. In particular, Aristotle and his followers were involved in their study and classification. Delving into the details, scientists have identified up to 200 varieties that enrich the language.
Means of expressive speech are divided according to language level into:
- phonetic;
- lexical;
- syntactic.
The use of phonetics is traditional for poetry. Musical sounds often predominate in a poem, giving poetic speech a special melodious quality. In the drawing of a verse, stress, rhythm and rhyme, and combinations of sounds are used for emphasis.
Anaphora– repetition of sounds, words or phrases at the beginning of sentences, poetic lines or stanzas. “The golden stars dozed off...” - repetition of the initial sounds, Yesenin used phonetic anaphora.
And here is an example of lexical anaphora in Pushkin’s poems:
Alone you rush across the clear azure,
You alone cast a dull shadow,
You alone sadden the jubilant day.
Epiphora- a similar technique, but much less common, in which words or phrases are repeated at the end of lines or sentences.
The use of lexical devices associated with a word, lexeme, as well as phrases and sentences, syntax, is considered as a tradition of literary creativity, although it is also widely found in poetry.
Conventionally, all means of expressiveness of the Russian language can be divided into tropes and stylistic figures.
Trails
Tropes are the use of words and phrases in a figurative sense. Paths make speech more figurative, enliven and enrich it. Some tropes and their examples in literary work are listed below.
Epithet- artistic definition. Using it, the author gives the word additional emotional overtones and his own assessment. To understand how an epithet differs from an ordinary definition, you need to understand when reading whether the definition gives a new connotation to the word? Here's a simple test. Compare: late autumn - golden autumn, early spring - young spring, quiet breeze - gentle breeze.
Personification- transferring the signs of living beings to inanimate objects, nature: “The gloomy rocks looked sternly...”.
Comparison– direct comparison of one object or phenomenon with another. “The night is gloomy, like a beast...” (Tyutchev).
Metaphor– transferring the meaning of one word, object, phenomenon to another. Identifying similarities, implicit comparison.
“There is a red rowan fire burning in the garden...” (Yesenin). The rowan brushes remind the poet of the flame of a fire.
Metonymy– renaming. Transferring a property or meaning from one object to another according to the principle of contiguity. “The one in felt, let’s argue” (Vysotsky). In felt (material) - in a felt hat.
Synecdoche- a type of metonymy. Transferring the meaning of one word to another based on a quantitative connection: singular - plural, part - whole. “We all look at Napoleons” (Pushkin).
Irony- the use of a word or expression in an inverted, mocking sense. For example, the appeal to the Donkey in Krylov’s fable: “Are you crazy, smart one?”
Hyperbola- a figurative expression containing exorbitant exaggeration. It may relate to size, meaning, strength, and other qualities. Litota is, on the contrary, an exorbitant understatement. Hyperbole is often used by writers and journalists, and litotes is much less common. Examples. Hyperbole: “The sunset burned with one hundred and forty suns” (V.V. Mayakovsky). Litota: “a little man with a fingernail.”
Allegory- a specific image, scene, image, object that visually represents an abstract idea. The role of allegory is to suggest subtext, to force one to look for hidden meaning when reading. Widely used in fable.
Alogism– deliberate violation of logical connections for the purpose of irony. “That landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper “Vest” and his body was soft, white and crumbly.” (Saltykov-Shchedrin). The author deliberately mixes logically heterogeneous concepts in the enumeration.
Grotesque– a special technique, a combination of hyperbole and metaphor, a fantastic surreal description. An outstanding master of Russian grotesque was N. Gogol. His story “The Nose” is based on the use of this technique. A special impression when reading this work is made by the combination of the absurd with the ordinary.
Figures of speech
Stylistic figures are also used in literature. Their main types are shown in the table:
| Repeat | At the beginning, end, at the junction of sentences | This cry and strings, These flocks, these birds |
| Antithesis | Opposition. Antonyms are often used. | Long hair, short mind |
| Gradation | Arrangement of synonyms in increasing or decreasing order | Smolder, burn, glow, explode |
| Oxymoron | Connecting contradictions | A living corpse, an honest thief. |
| Inversion | Word order changes | He came late (He came late). |
| Parallelism | Comparison in the form of juxtaposition | The wind stirred the dark branches. Fear stirred in him again. |
| Ellipsis | Omitting an implied word | By the hat and out the door (he grabbed it and went out). |
| Parcellation | Dividing a single sentence into separate ones | And I think again. About you. |
| Multi-Union | Connecting through repeating conjunctions | And me, and you, and all of us together |
| Asyndeton | Elimination of unions | You, me, he, she – together the whole country. |
| Rhetorical exclamation, question, appeal. | Used to enhance feelings | What a summer! Who if not us? Listen, country! |
| Default | Interruption of speech based on a guess, to reproduce strong excitement | My poor brother...execution...Tomorrow at dawn! |
| Emotional-evaluative vocabulary | Words expressing attitude, as well as direct assessment of the author | Henchman, dove, dunce, sycophant. |
Test "Means of Artistic Expression"
To test your understanding of the material, take a short test.
Read the following passage:
“There the war smelled of gasoline and soot, burnt iron and gunpowder, it scraped with caterpillar tracks, screeched from machine guns and fell into the snow, and rose again under fire...”
What means of artistic expression are used in the excerpt from K. Simonov’s novel?
Swede, Russian - stabs, chops, cuts.
Drumming, clicks, grinding,
The thunder of guns, stomping, neighing, groaning,
And death and hell on all sides.
A. Pushkin
The answer to the test is given at the end of the article.
Expressive language is, first of all, an internal image that arises when reading a book, listening to an oral presentation, or a presentation. To manipulate images, visual techniques are needed. There are enough of them in the great and mighty Russian. Use them, and the listener or reader will find their own image in your speech pattern.
Study expressive language and its laws. Determine for yourself what is missing in your performances, in your drawing. Think, write, experiment, and your language will become an obedient tool and your weapon.
Answer to the test
K. Simonov. The personification of war in the passage. Metonymy: howling soldiers, equipment, battlefield - the author ideologically connects them into a generalized image of war. The techniques of expressive language used are polyunion, syntactic repetition, parallelism. Through this combination of stylistic techniques when reading, a revived, rich image of war is created.
A. Pushkin. The poem lacks conjunctions in the first lines. In this way the tension and richness of the battle are conveyed. In the phonetic design of the scene, the sound “r” plays a special role in different combinations. When reading, a rumbling, growling background appears, ideologically conveying the noise of battle.
If you were unable to give the correct answers while answering the test, do not be upset. Just re-read the article.