Russian literature is replete with a variety of speech patterns. In order to make speech more vivid and expressive, people often use figurative language and stylistic devices: comparison, inversion and others. Everyone in his life, while reading this or that literature, has probably encountered such a concept as hyperbole, without even knowing the meaning of this term.
Use in literature
Hyperboles in literature All writers, without exception, love to use it. They do this in order to decorate their works, making them more emotional, bright, and full.
And this is not at all surprising, because without this stylistic figure and others like it, any work would be empty, boring and absolutely uninteresting. It is unlikely that such works would capture the reader’s attention, exciting his imagination, evoking in him numerous vivid emotions.
Hyperbole, in turn, helps to achieve such necessary effects. So what is a hyperbole in ? This is an artistic medium based on an excessive exaggeration of reality.
Advice! Another definition of hyperbole is exaggeration to the point of implausibility, so it is very important to remember and keep in mind that it does not need to be taken literally!
What is hyperbole used for?
They free the reader from the confines of reality and attribute supernatural characteristics natural phenomena and people. Hyperbole in literature does not play a role last role, since it makes our speech more lively and allows us to feel the emotional and state of mind narrator or author of the text.
This allows them to clearly and correctly convey the verbal atmosphere of the story. The function of hyperbole as a technique is - add brightness, emotionality and persuasiveness to the text. It is also often used by humor writers to create comic images for characters in their works, allowing the reader’s imagination to revive them in his imagination. .
How to find a hyperbole in a text?
Completing the task “find hyperbolas in the text” is quite simple, since among all the others speech patterns they stand out because they contain obvious exaggerations. Examples of usage: “this girl had eyes the size of saucers in surprise” or “this dog was the size of an elephant.”
All these phrases are apparent exaggeration of reality, because you won’t meet a girl with such big eyes on the street or a dog the size of an elephant, because such things simply do not exist and cannot exist in nature. These are the most simple examples use of the subject stylistic device in Russian literary language.
Attention! To find hyperbole in a text, it is enough to pay attention to an obvious significant exaggeration.
What is hyperbole in Russian?
Linguistics names any excessive exaggeration of properties, qualities, phenomena or actions to form a spectacular and attention-grabbing image created with a hyperbole .
It is used not only in literary language.
In normal colloquial speech she is also frequent guest. The difference between the first application and the second is that in his speech a person uses already existing statements, and the writer strives to create his own, exclusive statement in order to distinguish his own work from many others.
Examples
Examples of hyperbole from literary and colloquial speech:
- "rivers of blood";
- “You’re always late”;
- “mountains of corpses”;
- “haven’t seen each other for a hundred years”;
- "scare to death";
- “I told you a hundred times”;
- “a million apologies”;
- “a sea of ripened wheat”;
- “I’ve been waiting forever”;
- “I stood there all day”;
- “at least get wet”;
- “a house a thousand kilometers away”;
- “always late.”
Examples in fiction
We can say that everything classical works rely on the transfer of the author’s emotions to the reader, who moves him into a situation created by himself. Hyperbole in literature, in classical works very actively used by many famous authors.
Any literary work contains a number of special stylistic devices, for example, metaphor, comparison, grotesque or hyperbole. Literature simply cannot do without specific linguistic means that give the work special artistic expressiveness. Without stylistic devices, books of any genre would turn into usual description facts and content would resemble dry scientific works.
Definition
Hyperbole in literature is a means by which the properties of objects or phenomena are clearly and deliberately exaggerated in order to enhance the impact on readers. This stylistic device can be found in almost any writer, both classic and modern author.
- “every stroke, the shock is ready” N. A. Nekrasov;
- “as wide as the Black Sea” N.V. Gogol about Cossack trousers;
- “the wind blew and rose” Russian folk tales;
- “snores like a tractor” I. Ilf, E. Petrov;
- “chalk, chalk all over the earth” B. Pasternak.
Difference from similar linguistic means
Hyperbole in literature has similarities with other stylistic devices: metaphor, simile or grotesque. But there is significant differences. Grotesque is always a mixture of reality and fantasy, beauty and ugliness in order to create a special comic image. Simile and metaphor, just like hyperbole, compare objects and phenomena, but hyperbole is always an exaggeration. Examples: “legs like an elephant”, “high to the sky”, “said a thousand times”, etc.
Linguistic means of understatement
Hyperbole in literature has its opposite - litotes. This stylistic device is based on the understatement of objects or phenomena, for example, “a little man with a fingernail,” “the cat cried,” “just a stone’s throw away.” Some linguists consider litotes not an independent stylistic device, but a special case of hyperbole.
Language means in colloquial speech
Do not think that figurative expressions are an invention of the classics of the 16-17th centuries. Both hyperbole and other stylistic devices have been known since ancient times. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount - “as quickly as a camel will pass through the eye of a needle” or “waving, the street will become” in ancient Russian epics about Ilya Muromets. Hyperbole is actively used in colloquial speech, without it our language would be much poorer. Examples: “haven’t seen each other for a hundred years”, “at least a dime a dozen”, “an eternity”, “a berry is as big as a fist”, “I’m falling off my feet from fatigue”, etc. It also finds its application in oratory - the goal is everything the same, with the help of exaggeration to attract the attention of the audience and enhance the expressiveness of speech. Hyperbole is also used in advertising slogans, for example, “more than taste” or “never can't put it down.”
Visualization
There is also a visual analogue of this stylistic device, for example, on propaganda posters of the Soviet period, the figure of a Bolshevik always rose sharply not only above people, but also above the roofs of houses. The understatement of images (litotes) can be found in Bosch’s paintings, where a person is shown as small and insignificant, as a symbol of the vanity and insignificance of sinful everyday life.
Remember, hyperbole in literature is a figurative expression, so it should not be taken literally. It is only a means to focus attention or enhance expressiveness.
Hello, dear readers of the blog site. All of us in our lives have said or heard similar expressions at least once (and some more than once): YOU ARE ALWAYS LATE or HAVEN'T SEEN SEEN FOR A HUNDRED YEARS.
And few people thought that these phrases were devoid of any common sense. So, a person simply cannot “always be late.” And it’s impossible for someone not to see each other for “a hundred years,” if only because people rarely live that long.
Such exaggerations in Russian are called hyperboles and they will be discussed in this publication.
Hyperbole is a beautiful exaggeration
This word itself is Greek - “hyperbole” and it means “excess, excess, exaggeration.”
Hyperbole is one of the means strengthening emotional assessment, which consists in excessive exaggeration of any phenomena, qualities, properties or processes. This creates a more impressive image.
Moreover, exaggeration often reaches completely incomprehensible concepts, sometimes even. Any foreigner, if translated literally, will be clearly puzzled. We have long been accustomed to them, and perceive them as completely normal.
Here are examples of the most commonly used hyperboles in everyday life:
SCARE TO DEATH
A THOUSAND SORRY
AT LEAST FLY
RIVERS OF BLOOD
MOUNTAINS OF CORPSES
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER
GO OVER A THOUSAND KILOMETERS
STAYED ALL DAY
LOTS OF MONEY
A Feast FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
SEA OF TEARS
NOT SEEN FOR 100 YEARS
OCEAN OF PASSIONS
WEIGHS ONE HUNDRED POUNDS
Smother in your arms
SCARED TO DEATH
All listed expressions we constantly use in colloquial speech. And for the sake of experiment, just try to parse them verbatim and see how funny and sometimes absurd some of them are.
Well, for example, “at least fill yourself up” - this should be such an amount of liquid that it is enough for a whole pool into which you could plunge headlong. Although in fact, with this expression we just want to say that we have a lot of drinks - even more than we need.
Or does the phrase “a lot of money” actually mean just good things? financial condition, and not that a person has collected all his savings and let’s put them in one pile.
And we do not use the expression “to travel a thousand kilometers” when we are talking about a real distance, for example, from Moscow to Volgograd or Rostov-on-Don. But simply in the sense of “far”, although in fact in real numbers the distance there may be only a few kilometers.
And this way you can “debunk” absolutely any hyperbole. But you shouldn't do this. They do not have to mean the absolute truth; their task is to characterize a specific situation or thought in the most picturesque way, enhancing her emotional coloring.
Examples of hyperbole in fiction
In fact, such exaggerations are very old literary device. It was used, and this was almost a thousand years ago. With the help of hyperboles, the strength of the heroes and their opponents was repeatedly strengthened.
The heroic sleep lasted 12 DAYS (well, a person cannot sleep for almost two weeks)
Countless forces stood in the way of the hero - A WOLF WILL NOT OUTRUN THEM IN A DAY, A RAVE WILL NOT FLY FROM THEM IN A DAY (how many enemies should there be - a million?)
The hero waves his hand - A STREET IS AMONG ENEMIES, he waves another - AN ALLEY (that is, with one blow the hero kills several dozen at once)
Ilya Muromets took a club WEIGHTING ONE HUNDRED POUDS (here you must understand that one hundred pounds is one and a half tons)
The Nightingale the Robber whistles - THE FOREST IS LOANING TO THE GROUND, AND PEOPLE ARE FALLING DEAD (well, this is something out of a fairy tale)
Exactly the same hyperboles occur in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". For example:
“The Russians blocked with scarlet shields wide margins, seeking honor for yourself, and glory for the prince” or “An army such that you can splash the Volga with oars, and scoop up the Don with helmets.”
Among writers, Nikolai Vasilyevich has the most hyperbole Gogol. There are exaggerations in almost every one of his famous work. For example, he describes the Dnieper River:
A rare bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper.
The Dnieper is like a road without end in length and without measure in width.
Or he uses exaggerations in his words, putting them in the mouths of the heroes:
I would destroy you all into flour! (Governor)
Thirty-five thousand couriers alone... The State Council itself is afraid of me. (Khlestakov)
And in " Dead souls" there are these words: "Countless human passions like the sands of the sea."
Almost every writer or poet uses hyperbole. With their help, they, for example, more colorfully describe the character of the heroes of works or show their author's attitude to them.
Moreover, writers often do not use already established expressions, but try to come up with something of their own.
Here's more examples of hyperbole in literature:
- And a mountain of bloody bodies prevented the cannonballs from flying (Lermontov)
- The sunset glowed with a hundred and forty suns (Mayakovsky)
- A million torments (Griboyedov)
- A decent person is ready to run away to distant lands for you (Dostoevsky)
- And the pine tree reaches the stars (Mandelshtam)
- In the dream, the janitor became as heavy as a chest of drawers (Ilf and Petrov)
Examples of hyperbole in advertising
Of course, without such an interesting technique that allows enhance the real meaning of words, advertisers couldn’t get through either. A lot of slogans are based on this principle. After all, the task is to attract the client’s attention, while promising “mountains of gold” and in every possible way emphasizing the uniqueness of the product:
- Taste on the verge of possible (chewing gum "Stimorol")
- Control over the elements (Adidas sneakers)
- King of salads (Oliviez mayonnaise)
The principle of hyperbole is also often used in the creation of advertising videos. For example, a series of famous videos about Snickers bars with the slogan “You are not you when you are hungry.” Where various characters turn into completely different people and start doing all sorts of stupid things, and only a candy bar can bring them back to normal.
These commercials clearly exaggerate (greatly exaggerate) the feeling of hunger and the “miraculous” power of Snickers itself.
Well the simplest example The hyperbole that is used in advertising is expressions like “the best”, “the most stylish”, “the most comfortable” and so on, but about prices, on the contrary, they say “the lowest”.
Instead of a conclusion
Give greater expressiveness and emotional coloring Any expression can be expressed not only with the help of hyperbole. There is a technique in the Russian language that is its complete opposite. He does not exaggerate, but, on the contrary, reduces the significance.
Before you can blink an eye, the years have already flown by.
This technique is called "". This will be discussed in detail in our next article.
Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site
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Hyperbole is an exaggeration. We meet her both in colloquial speech and in literary speech.
Hyperbole is designed to enhance the expressiveness of a statement in order to show its special significance.
Mayakovsky greatly favored this technique.
Let's give another example:
Hyperbole is used to create brightness of the text and is mainly needed to give expressiveness to the text. Hyperbole deliberately greatly exaggerates an idea or subject that it looks almost beyond the reality. Hyperbole should be used appropriately and in the topic.
Hyperbole (in literature) is a certain literary device, the meaning of which is figurative exaggeration of one or another action as a whole. For example: I have already said this a thousand and one times, that is, there is excessive exaggeration in this sentence, since normal person will not repeat any word or expression a thousand times.
Hyperbole is a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize what is being said.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration in a text. With the help of hyperbole, the author enhances the necessary impression, emphasizes what he glorifies or ridicules.
I'll tell you a hundred times spoke!
Hyperbole, including in literature, is an exaggeration of any property or quality. For example, in literature there is such an expression as dark, even if you poke your eyes out. This is precisely hyperbole.
Hyperbole means exaggeration. This is the name of a literary device, the essence of which is the deliberate exaggeration of the qualities or properties of the described object or character in order to enhance the impression of the reader. For example, Gogol’s famous “rare bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper” is a hyperbole. It is clear that any bird can fly to the middle of the Dnieper, but Gogol’s technique emphasizes the greatness and power of the river.
I personally believe that the use of hyperbole in literature and especially literature for children is simply necessary. Otherwise it will be boring to read. And some works simply would not have been born. In many works this is simply necessary to emphasize the strength and scale of the actions.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration (to put it simply). Writers use this technique to better express emotions, to enhance the impression.
Example of hyperbole (exaggeration):
I've already said this a million times!
Very often you can find this technique in folk art (for example, in epics and fairy tales).
The concept of hyperbole in literature means exaggeration of various kinds. Many, if not all, works contain at least some exaggeration. An example of a hyperbole would be:
The dog was the size of a huge tower.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration. For example, Ilya Muromets, fighting with enemies, defeated the entire enemy army. One person cannot do this. This means the author used hyperbole. Hyperbole is used to interest the reader, enhance the expressiveness of the text, and to emphasize certain details.
As you know, the word is the basic unit of any language, as well as the most important component of its artistic means. The correct use of vocabulary largely determines the expressiveness of speech.
In context, a word is a special world, a mirror of the author’s perception and attitude to reality. It has its own metaphorical precision, its own special truths, called artistic revelations; the functions of vocabulary depend on the context.
Individual perception of the world around us is reflected in such a text with the help of metaphorical statements. After all, art is, first of all, the self-expression of an individual. The literary fabric is woven from metaphors that create an exciting and emotionally affecting image of a particular work of art. Additional meanings appear in words, a special stylistic coloring, creating a unique world that we discover for ourselves while reading the text.
Not only in literary, but also in oral, we use, without thinking, various techniques artistic expression to give it emotionality, persuasiveness, imagery. Let's figure out what artistic techniques there are in the Russian language.
The use of metaphors especially contributes to the creation of expressiveness, so let's start with them.
Metaphor
It is impossible to imagine artistic techniques in literature without mentioning the most important of them - the way of creating a linguistic picture of the world based on meanings already existing in the language itself.
The types of metaphors can be distinguished as follows:
- Fossilized, worn out, dry or historical (bow of a boat, eye of a needle).
- Phraseologisms are stable figurative combinations of words that are emotional, metaphorical, reproducible in the memory of many native speakers, expressive (death grip, vicious circle, etc.).
- Single metaphor (eg homeless heart).
- Unfolded (heart - “porcelain bell in yellow China” - Nikolay Gumilyov).
- Traditionally poetic (morning of life, fire of love).
- Individually-authored (sidewalk hump).
In addition, a metaphor can simultaneously be an allegory, personification, hyperbole, periphrasis, meiosis, litotes and other tropes.
The word “metaphor” itself means “transfer” in translation from Greek. IN in this case we are dealing with the transfer of a name from one object to another. For it to become possible, they must certainly have some similarity, they must be adjacent in some way. A metaphor is a word or expression used in a figurative meaning due to the similarity of two phenomena or objects in some way.
As a result of this transfer, an image is created. Therefore, metaphor is one of the most striking means of expressiveness of artistic, poetic speech. However, the absence of this trope does not mean the lack of expressiveness of the work.
A metaphor can be either simple or extensive. In the twentieth century, the use of expanded ones in poetry is being revived, and the nature of simple ones is changing significantly.
Metonymy
Metonymy is a type of metaphor. Translated from Greek, this word means “renaming,” that is, it is the transfer of the name of one object to another. Metonymy is the replacement of a certain word with another based on the existing contiguity of two concepts, objects, etc. This is the imposition of a figurative word on the direct meaning. For example: “I ate two plates.” Mixing of meanings and their transfer are possible because objects are adjacent, and the contiguity can be in time, space, etc.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a type of metonymy. Translated from Greek, this word means “correlation.” This transfer of meaning occurs when the smaller is called instead of the larger, or vice versa; instead of a part - a whole, and vice versa. For example: “According to Moscow reports.”
Epithet
It is impossible to imagine the artistic techniques in literature, the list of which we are now compiling, without an epithet. This is a figure, trope, figurative definition, phrase or word denoting a person, phenomenon, object or action with a subjective
Translated from Greek, this term means “attached, application,” that is, in our case, one word is attached to some other.
Epithet from simple definition distinguished by its artistic expressiveness.
Constant epithets are used in folklore as a means of typification, and also as one of the most important means of artistic expression. In the strict sense of the term, only those whose function is words in a figurative meaning, in contrast to the so-called exact epithets, which are expressed in words in a literal meaning (red berries, beautiful flowers), belong to tropes. Figurative ones are created when words are used in a figurative meaning. Such epithets are usually called metaphorical. Metonymic transfer of name may also underlie this trope.
An oxymoron is a type of epithet, the so-called contrasting epithets, forming combinations with defined nouns of words that are opposite in meaning (hateful love, joyful sadness).
Comparison
Simile is a trope in which one object is characterized through comparison with another. That is, this is a comparison of different objects by similarity, which can be both obvious and unexpected, distant. It is usually expressed using certain words: “exactly”, “as if”, “similar”, “as if”. Comparisons can also take the form of the instrumental case.
Personification
When describing artistic techniques in literature, it is necessary to mention personification. This is a type of metaphor that represents the assignment of properties of living beings to objects of inanimate nature. It is often created by referring to such natural phenomena as conscious living beings. Personification is also the transference of human properties to animals.
Hyperbole and litotes
Let us note such techniques of artistic expression in literature as hyperbole and litotes.
Hyperbole (translated as “exaggeration”) is one of the expressive means of speech, which is a figure with the meaning of exaggerating what is being discussed.
Litota (translated as “simplicity”) is the opposite of hyperbole - an excessive understatement of what is being discussed (a boy the size of a finger, a man the size of a fingernail).
Sarcasm, irony and humor
We continue to describe artistic techniques in literature. Our list will be complemented by sarcasm, irony and humor.
- Sarcasm means "tearing meat" in Greek. This is evil irony, caustic mockery, caustic remark. When using sarcasm, it creates comic effect, however, there is a clear ideological and emotional assessment.
- Irony in translation means “pretense”, “mockery”. It occurs when one thing is said in words, but something completely different, the opposite, is meant.
- Humor is one of the lexical means of expressiveness, translated meaning “mood”, “disposition”. Sometimes entire works can be written in a comic, allegorical vein, in which one can sense a mocking, good-natured attitude towards something. For example, the story “Chameleon” by A.P. Chekhov, as well as many fables by I.A. Krylov.
The types of artistic techniques in literature do not end there. We present to your attention the following.
Grotesque
The most important artistic techniques in literature include the grotesque. The word "grotesque" means "intricate", "bizarre". Given artistic technique represents a violation of the proportions of phenomena, objects, events depicted in the work. It is widely used in the works of, for example, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (“The Golovlevs,” “The History of a City,” fairy tales). This is an artistic technique based on exaggeration. However, its degree is much greater than that of a hyperbole.
Sarcasm, irony, humor and grotesque are popular artistic techniques in literature. Examples of the first three are the stories of A.P. Chekhov and N.N. Gogol. The work of J. Swift is grotesque (for example, Gulliver's Travels).
What artistic technique does the author (Saltykov-Shchedrin) use to create the image of Judas in the novel “Lord Golovlevs”? Of course it's grotesque. Irony and sarcasm are present in the poems of V. Mayakovsky. The works of Zoshchenko, Shukshin, and Kozma Prutkov are filled with humor. These artistic techniques in literature, examples of which we have just given, as you can see, are very often used by Russian writers.
Pun
A pun is a figure of speech that represents an involuntary or deliberate ambiguity that arises when used in the context of two or more meanings of a word or when their sound is similar. Its varieties are paronomasia, false etymologization, zeugma and concretization.
In puns, the play on words is based on homonymy and polysemy. Anecdotes arise from them. These artistic techniques in literature can be found in the works of V. Mayakovsky, Omar Khayyam, Kozma Prutkov, A. P. Chekhov.
Figure of speech - what is it?
The word "figure" itself is translated from Latin as " appearance, outline, image." This word has many meanings. What does this term mean in relation to artistic speech? Syntactic means of expression related to figures: questions, appeals.
What is a "trope"?
“What is the name of an artistic technique that uses a word in a figurative sense?” - you ask. The term “trope” combines various techniques: epithet, metaphor, metonymy, comparison, synecdoche, litotes, hyperbole, personification and others. Translated, the word "trope" means "turnover". Literary speech differs from ordinary speech in that it uses special phrases that embellish the speech and make it more expressive. IN different styles different ones are used means of expression. The most important thing in the concept of “expressiveness” for artistic speech is the ability of a text or a work of art to have an aesthetic, emotional impact on the reader, to create poetic pictures and vivid images.
We all live in a world of sounds. Some of them cause us positive emotions, others, on the contrary, excite, alarm, cause anxiety, calm or induce sleep. Different sounds evoke different images. Using their combination, you can emotionally influence a person. Reading works of art literature and Russian folk art, we are especially sensitive to their sound.
Basic techniques for creating sound expressiveness
- Alliteration is the repetition of similar or identical consonants.
- Assonance is the deliberate harmonious repetition of vowels.
Alliteration and assonance are often used simultaneously in works. These techniques are aimed at evoking various associations in the reader.
Technique of sound recording in fiction
Sound recording is an artistic technique that is the use of certain sounds in a specific order to create a certain image, that is, the selection of words that imitate sounds real world. This reception in fiction used in both poetry and prose.
Types of sound recording:
- Assonance means “consonance” in French. Assonance is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in a text to create a specific sound image. It promotes the expressiveness of speech, it is used by poets in the rhythm and rhyme of poems.
- Alliteration - from This technique is the repetition of consonants in literary text to create some sound image, in order to make poetic speech more expressive.
- Onomatopoeia - transmission in special words, reminiscent of the sounds of phenomena in the surrounding world, auditory impressions.
These artistic techniques in poetry are very common; without them, poetic speech would not be so melodic.