Poetic devices are an important part of a beautiful, rich poem. Poetic techniques significantly help to make the poem interesting and varied. It is very useful to know what poetic techniques the author uses.

Poetic devices

Epithet

An epithet in poetry is usually used to emphasize one of the properties of the described object, process or action.

This term has Greek origin and literally means "attached". At its core, an epithet is a definition of an object, action, process, event, etc., expressed in artistic form. Grammatically, an epithet is most often an adjective, but other parts of speech, such as numerals, nouns, and even verbs, can also be used as an adjective. Depending on their location, epithets are divided into prepositional, postpositional and dislocational.

Comparisons

Comparison is one of the expressive techniques, when used, certain properties that are most characteristic of an object or process are revealed through similar qualities of another object or process.

Trails

Literally, the word “trope” means “turnover” translated from Greek language. However, the translation, although it reflects the essence of this term, cannot reveal its meaning even approximately. A trope is an expression or word used by the author in a figurative, allegorical sense. Thanks to the use of tropes, the author gives the described object or process a vivid characteristic that evokes certain associations in the reader and, as a result, a more acute emotional reaction.

Tropes are usually divided into several types depending on the specific semantic connotation on which the word or expression was used in a figurative sense: metaphor, allegory, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, irony.

Metaphor

Metaphor is an expressive means, one of the most common tropes, when, based on the similarity of one or another characteristic of two different objects, a property inherent in one object is assigned to another. Most often, when using metaphor, authors, to highlight one or another property of an inanimate object, use words whose direct meaning serves to describe the features of animate objects, and vice versa, revealing the properties of an animate object, they use words whose use is typical for describing inanimate objects.

Personification

Personification is an expressive technique in which the author consistently transfers several signs of animate objects onto an inanimate object. These signs are selected according to the same principle as when using metaphor. Ultimately, the reader has a special perception of the described object, in which the inanimate object has the image of a certain living being or is endowed with qualities inherent in living beings.

Metonymy

When using metonymy, the author replaces one concept with another based on the similarity between them. Close in meaning in this case are cause and effect, material and a thing made from it, action and tool. Often the name of its author or the owner's name for ownership is used to identify a work.

Synecdoche

A type of trope, the use of which is associated with changes in quantitative relationships between objects or objects. Thus, the plural is often used instead of the singular, or vice versa, a part instead of the whole. In addition, when using synecdoche, the genus can be designated by the name of the species. This expressive means is less common in poetry than, for example, metaphor.

Antonomasia

Antonomasia is an expressive means in which the author uses a proper name instead of a common noun, for example, based on the presence of a particularly strong character trait in the character being cited.

Irony

Irony is a powerful means of expression that has a hint of mockery, sometimes slight mockery. When using irony, the author uses words with opposite meanings so that the reader himself guesses about the true properties of the described object, object or action.

Gain or Gradation

When using this expressive means, the author places theses, arguments, thoughts, etc. as their importance or persuasiveness increases. Such a consistent presentation makes it possible to greatly increase the significance of the thought expressed by the poet.

Contrast or antithesis

Contrast is an expressive means that makes it possible to make a particularly strong impression on the reader, to convey to him the strong excitement of the author due to the rapid change of concepts of opposite meaning used in the text of the poem. Also, opposing emotions, feelings and experiences of the author or his hero can be used as an object of opposition.

Default

By default, the author intentionally or involuntarily omits some concepts, and sometimes entire phrases and sentences. In this case, the presentation of thoughts in the text turns out to be somewhat confusing and less consistent, which only emphasizes the special emotionality of the text.

Exclamation

An exclamation can appear anywhere in a work of poetry, but, as a rule, authors use it to intonationally highlight particularly emotional moments in the verse. At the same time, the author focuses the reader’s attention on the moment that particularly excited him, telling him his experiences and feelings.

Inversion

To give the tongue literary work For greater expressiveness, special means of poetic syntax, called figures of poetic speech, are used. In addition to repetition, anaphora, epiphora, antithesis, rhetorical question and rhetorical appeal, inversion (Latin inversio - rearrangement) is quite common in prose and especially in versification.

Use of this stylistic device is based on an unusual word order in a sentence, which makes the phrase more expressive shade. The traditional construction of a sentence requires the following sequence: subject, predicate and attribute standing before the designated word: “The wind drives the gray clouds.” However, this word order is typical, in to a greater extent, for prose texts, and in poetic works there is often a need for intonational emphasis on a word.

Classic examples of inversion can be found in Lermontov’s poetry: “A lonely sail turns white / In the fog of the blue sea...”. Another great Russian poet, Pushkin, considered inversion one of the main figures of poetic speech, and often the poet used not only contact, but also remote inversion, when, when rearranging words, other words are wedged between them: “An old man obedient to Perun alone...”.

Inversion in poetic texts performs an accent or semantic function, a rhythm-forming function for building poetic text, as well as the function of creating a verbal-figurative picture. IN prose works inversion is used to place logical stresses, to express author's attitude to the characters and to convey their emotional state.

Alliteration

Alliteration refers to a special literary device consisting of the repetition of one or a series of sounds. At the same time great value has a high frequency of these sounds in a relatively small speech area. For example, “Where the grove neighs the guns neigh.” However, if entire words or word forms are repeated, as a rule, there is no question of alliteration. Alliteration is characterized by irregular repetition of sounds, and this is precisely the main feature of this literary device. Usually the technique of alliteration is used in poetry, but in some cases alliteration can also be found in prose. So, for example, V. Nabokov very often uses the technique of alliteration in his works.

Alliteration differs from rhyme primarily in that the repeating sounds are not concentrated at the beginning and end of the line, but are absolutely derivative, albeit with high frequency. The second difference is the fact that, as a rule, consonant sounds are alliterated.

The main functions of the literary device of alliteration include onomatopoeia and the subordination of the semantics of words to associations that evoke sounds in humans.

Assonance

Assonance is understood as a special literary device consisting in the repetition of vowel sounds in a particular statement. This is the main difference between assonance and alliteration, where consonant sounds are repeated. There are two slightly different uses of assonance. Firstly, assonance is used as an original tool that gives an artistic text, especially poetic text, a special flavor.

For example,
“Our ears are on top of our heads,
A little morning the guns lit up
And the forests are blue tops -
The French are right there." (M.Yu. Lermontov)

Secondly, assonance is quite widely used to create imprecise rhyme. For example, “hammer city”, “incomparable princess”.

During the Middle Ages, assonance was one of the most commonly used methods of rhyming poetry. However, both in modern poetry and in the poetry of the past century one can quite easily find many examples of the use of the literary device of assonance. One of the textbook examples of the use of both rhyme and assonance in one quatrain is an excerpt from poetic work V. Mayakovsky:

“I won’t turn into Tolstoy, but into the fat one -
I eat, I write, I’m a fool from the heat.
Who hasn't philosophized over the sea?
Water."

Anaphora

Anaphora is traditionally understood as a literary device such as unity of command. In this case, most often we are talking about repetition at the beginning of a sentence, line or paragraph of words and phrases. For example, “The winds did not blow in vain, the storm did not come in vain.” In addition, with the help of anaphora one can express the identity of certain objects or the presence of certain objects and different or identical properties. For example, “I’m going to the hotel, I hear a conversation there.” Thus, we see that anaphora in the Russian language is one of the main literary devices that serve to connect the text. The following types of anaphora are distinguished: sound anaphora, morphemic anaphora, lexical anaphora, syntactic anaphora, strophic anaphora, rhyme anaphora and strophico-syntactic anaphora. Quite often, anaphora, as a literary device, forms a symbiosis with such literary device, as gradation, that is, increasing the emotional nature of words in the text.

For example, “Cattle die, a friend dies, a man himself dies.”

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:

1. Fossilized, worn out, dry or historical (bow of a boat, eye of a needle).
2. 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.).
3. Single metaphor (eg homeless heart).
4. Unfolded (heart - “porcelain bell in yellow China” - Nikolay Gumilyov).
5. Traditionally poetic (morning of life, fire of love).
6. 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". This 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 means of expression are used. 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 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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 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 work”, 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 or with expressive means. minimum quantity. 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 - special moves artistic expression that proves, substantiates, depicts information and engages the imagination of the reader or listener. This is extremely important not only for writing, 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 slips into everyone’s speech - this means of expressiveness has become firmly established in daily life, so you need to use it 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 – 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.

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.

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.

Antithesis is a means of expression that is often used in the Russian language and in Russian literature because of its powerful expressive capabilities. So, antithesis definition is such a technique in artistic language when one phenomenon is contrasted with another. Those who want to read about the antithesis of Wikipedia will certainly find there different examples from poems.

I would like to define the concept of “antithesis” and its meaning. It is of great importance in language because it is a technique that allows compare two opposites, for example, “black” and “white”, “good” and “evil”. The concept of this technique is defined as a means of expressiveness, which allows you to very vividly describe an object or phenomenon in poetry.

What is antithesis in literature

Antithesis is an artistic figurative and expressive means that allows you to compare one object with another based on oppositions. Usually, as an artistic medium, it is very popular among many modern writers and poets. But in the classics you can also find huge amount examples. Within the antithesis can be opposed in meaning or in their properties:

• Two characters. This most often happens in cases where positive character opposed to negative;
• Two phenomena or objects;
• Different qualities of the same object (looking at the object from several aspects);
• The qualities of one object are contrasted with the qualities of another object.

Lexical meaning of trope

The technique is very popular in literature because it allows you to most clearly express the essence of a particular subject through opposition. Typically, such oppositions always look lively and imaginative, so poetry and prose that use antithesis are quite interesting to read. She is one of the most popular And known means artistic expressiveness of a literary text, be it poetry or prose.

The technique was actively used by the classics of Russian literature, and modern poets and prose writers use it no less actively. Most often, the antithesis underlies contrast between two characters in a work of art, When goodie is opposed to negative. At the same time, their qualities are deliberately demonstrated in an exaggerated, sometimes grotesque form.

Skillful use of this artistic technique allows you to create a living, imaginative description of characters, objects or phenomena found in one or another work of art(novel, story, story, poem or fairy tale). It is often used in folklore works(fairy tales, epics, songs and other genres of oral folk art). During runtime literary analysis text, you must definitely pay attention to the presence or absence of this technique in the work.

Where can you find examples of antithesis?

Antithesis examples from literature can be found almost everywhere, in the most different genres fiction, ranging from folk art (fairy tales, epics, tales, legends, etc. oral folklore) and ending with works modern poets and writers of the twenty-first century. Due to its characteristics of artistic expression, the technique is most often found in the following genres of fiction:

• Poems;
• Stories:
• Fairy tales and legends (folk and author's);
• Novels and stories. In which there are lengthy descriptions of objects, phenomena or characters.

Antithesis as an artistic device

As a means of artistic expression, it is built on the opposition of one phenomenon to another. A writer who uses antithesis in his work chooses the most characteristic features two characters (objects, phenomena) and tries to reveal them most fully by contrasting each other. The word itself, translated from ancient Greek, also means nothing more than “opposition.”

Active and appropriate use makes the literary text more expressive, lively, interesting, helps to most fully reveal the characters of the characters, the essence of specific phenomena or objects. This is what determines the popularity of the antithesis in the Russian language and in Russian literature. However, in others European languages this is a remedy artistic imagery is also used very actively, especially in classical literature.

In order to find examples of antithesis during the analysis of a literary text, you must first examine those fragments of the text where two characters (phenomena, objects) are not considered in isolation, but are opposed to each other with different points vision. And then finding a reception will be quite easy. Sometimes the whole meaning of a work is built on this artistic device. It should also be borne in mind that the antithesis can be explicit, but maybe hidden, veiled.

Finding a hidden antithesis in an artistic literary text is quite simple if you read and analyze the text thoughtfully and carefully. In order to teach how to correctly use a technique in your own literary text, you need to familiarize yourself with the most striking examples from Russian classical literature. However, it is not recommended to overuse it so that it does not lose its expressiveness.

Antithesis is one of the main means of artistic expression, widely used in the Russian language and in Russian literature. The technique can easily be found in many works of Russian classics. They actively use it and modern writers. Antithesis enjoys well-deserved popularity because it helps to most clearly express the essence of individual heroes, objects or phenomena by contrasting one hero (object, phenomenon) with another. Russian literature without this artistic device is practically unthinkable.

Why are artistic techniques needed? First of all, in order for the work to correspond to a certain style, implying a certain imagery, expressiveness and beauty. In addition, a writer is a master of associations, an artist of words and a great contemplator. Artistic techniques in poetry and prose make the text deeper. Consequently, both the prose writer and the poet are not satisfied with just the linguistic layer; they are not limited to using only the superficial, basic meaning of the word. In order to be able to penetrate into the depth of thought, into the essence of the image, it is necessary to use various artistic means.

In addition, the reader needs to be lured and attracted. To do this, various techniques are used that give special interest to the narrative and some mystery that needs to be solved. Artistic media are also called tropes. These are not only integral elements big picture world, but also the author’s assessment, the background and general tone of the work, as well as much more, which we sometimes don’t even think about when reading another creation.

The main artistic techniques are metaphor, epithet and comparison. Although the epithet is often considered as a type of metaphor, we will not go into the jungle of the science of “literary criticism” and will traditionally highlight it as a separate means.

Epithet

The epithet is the king of description. Not a single landscape, portrait, interior can do without it. Sometimes a single correctly chosen epithet is much more important than an entire paragraph created specifically for clarification. Most often, when talking about it, we mean participles or adjectives that endow this or that artistic image with additional properties and characteristics. An epithet should not be confused with a simple definition.

So, for example, to describe the eyes we can offer the following words: alive, brown, bottomless, large, painted, crafty. Let's try to divide these adjectives into two groups, namely: objective (natural) properties and subjective (additional) characteristics. We will see that words such as "big", "brown" and "painted" convey in their meaning only what anyone can see, since it lies on the surface. In order for us to imagine the appearance of a particular hero, such definitions are very important. However, it is the “bottomless”, “living”, “crafty” eyes that will best tell us about his inner essence and character. We begin to guess what is in front of us unusual person, prone to various inventions, having a living, moving soul. This is precisely the main property of epithets: to indicate those features that are hidden from us during the initial examination.

Metaphor

Let's move on to another equally important trope - metaphor. comparison expressed by a noun. The author’s task here is to compare phenomena and objects, but very carefully and tactfully, so that the reader cannot guess that we are imposing this object on him. This is exactly how, insinuatingly and naturally, you need to use any artistic techniques. “tears of dew”, “fire of dawn”, etc. Here dew is compared with tears, and dawn with fire.

Comparison

The last most important artistic device is comparison, given directly through the use of such conjunctions as “as if”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”, “as if”. Examples include the following: eyes like life; dew like tears; tree, like an old man. However, it should be noted that the use of an epithet, metaphor or comparison should not only be used for the sake of a catchphrase. There should be no chaos in the text, it should gravitate towards grace and harmony, therefore, before using this or that trope, you need to clearly understand for what purpose it is used, what we want to say by it.

Other, more complex and less common literary devices are hyperbole (exaggeration), antithesis (contrast), and inversion (reversing word order).

Antithesis

A trope such as antithesis has two varieties: it can be narrow (within one paragraph or sentence) and extensive (placed over several chapters or pages). This technique often used in works of Russian classics when it is necessary to compare two heroes. For example, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in his story " Captain's daughter" compares Pugachev and Grinev, and a little later Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol will create portraits of the famous brothers, Andriy and Ostap, also based on antithesis. Artistic techniques in the novel "Oblomov" also include this trope.

Hyperbola

Hyperbole is a favorite device in such literary genres as epics, fairy tales and ballads. But it is found not only in them. For example, the hyperbole “he could eat a wild boar” can be used in any novel, short story, or other work of the realistic tradition.

Inversion

Let's continue to describe artistic techniques in the works. Inversion, as you might guess, serves to give the work additional emotionality. It can most often be observed in poetry, but this trope is often used in prose. You can say: “This girl was more beautiful than others.” Or you can shout out: “This girl was more beautiful than the others!” Immediately, enthusiasm, expression, and much more arise, which can be noticed when comparing the two statements.

Irony

The next trope, irony, or hidden authorial ridicule, is also used quite often in fiction. Of course, a serious work should be serious, but the subtext hidden in irony sometimes not only demonstrates the wit of the writer, but also forces the reader to take a breath for a while and prepare for the next, more intense scene. IN humorous work irony is irreplaceable. The great masters of this are Zoshchenko and Chekhov, who use this trope in their stories.

Sarcasm

Another technique is closely related to this one - it is no longer just a good laugh, it reveals shortcomings and vices, sometimes exaggerates the colors, while irony usually creates a bright atmosphere. In order to have a more complete understanding of this trail, you can read several tales by Saltykov-Shchedrin.

Personification

The next technique is personification. It allows us to demonstrate the life of the world around us. Images appear such as grumbling winter, dancing snow, singing water. In other words, personification is the transfer of the properties of animate objects to inanimate objects. So, we all know that only humans and animals can yawn. But in the literature there are often such artistic images like a yawning sky or a yawning door. The first of them can help create a certain mood in the reader and prepare his perception. The second is to emphasize the sleepy atmosphere in this house, perhaps loneliness and boredom.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is another interesting technique, which is a combination of incompatible things. This is both a righteous lie and an Orthodox devil. Such words, chosen completely unexpectedly, can be used by both science fiction writers and lovers of philosophical treatises. Sometimes just one oxymoron is enough to build an entire work that has dualism of existence, an insoluble conflict, and a subtle ironic subtext.

Other artistic techniques

It is interesting that the “and, and, and” used in the previous sentence is also one of the artistic means called polyunion. Why is it needed? First of all, to expand the narrative range and show, for example, that a person has beauty, intelligence, courage, and charm... And the hero also knows how to fish, and swim, and write books, and build houses...

Most often, this trope is used in conjunction with another, called This is the case when it is difficult to imagine one without the other.

However, this is not all artistic techniques and means. Let us also note rhetorical questions. They don't require an answer, but still make readers think. Perhaps everyone knows the most famous of them: “Who is to blame?” and "What should I do?"

These are just basic artistic techniques. In addition to them, we can distinguish parcellation (division of a sentence), synecdoche (when the singular is used instead of the plural), anaphora (similar beginning of sentences), epiphora (repetition of their endings), litotes (understatement) and hyperbole (on the contrary, exaggeration), periphrasis (when some word is replaced by it brief description. All these means can be used in both poetry and prose. Artistic techniques in a poem and, for example, a story are not fundamentally different.