Constant epithets: examples, history, use. What are permanent epithets

one of the tropes folk poetry: a definition word that is consistently combined with one or another defined word and denotes some characteristic, always present in the object generic sign(Pillar path, red maiden, good fellow, blue sea, clean field, black clouds). Such P. e. (see epithet) were a means of typification. Moreover, a word used with P. e. acquires a new quality, a meaning that differs in meaning from each of the words separately. The combination red maiden means “a beautiful girl, no different from others: neither prettier, nor smarter, nor richer than others.” If an ancient storyteller or singer needed to characterize the special properties of his characters, he looked for an epithet of an individualizing nature. Prince Vladimir, who is planning to get married, wants to find a bride worthy of his princely title, and creates the image of an ideal, from his point of view, girl: As if that girl were stately in figure, stately in figure and accomplished in mind, her white face, as if white snow... The role of P. e. in folklore is huge. They are one of the main means artistic expression epics and songs, tales and legends. Some P. e. widely used in all types of folklore: good fellow, the field is clean, the sea is blue, the forests are dark, the meadows are green. Others are found primarily in certain genres of folk poetry, while performing specific ideological and artistic functions. For example, P. e. is widely used in fairy tales. fantastic character: golden palace, crystal bridge, underground kingdom, firebird, flying carpet. In the epics of P. e. serve as an important means in creating images of heroes, describing their armor and the situation of battles: a mighty hero, a good horse, a red-hot arrow, a damask club. In contrast to the epic genres of folklore, where P. e. play a mainly descriptive and figurative role; in folk poetry, the function of poetic e.g. predominantly expressive, emotional and evaluative. For example, in traditional lyrical songs the following emotional and evaluative E. are often found: dear mother, dear father, dear friend, soul-maiden, poor little head, burning tears. P. e. are specific. ditties: cheerful little girl, dear fun, sweet drolya, desperate little head. P. e. found in epic poetry different nations. Thus, Homer’s “Iliad” is characterized by P. e.: cloud-catcher Zeus, pink-fingered Eos, silver-legged Thetis. Lit.: Epithet in Russian folk art. - M., 1980; Lazutin S.G. Poetics of Russian folklore. - M., 1981; see also lit. to the article Epithet. L.E. Tu mine

What is a "permanent epithet"? How to spell given word. Concept and interpretation.

permanent epithet one of the tropes of folk poetry: a definition word that is consistently combined with one or another defined word and designates in the subject some characteristic, always present generic sign (a pillar path, a red maiden, a good fellow, a blue sea, a clean field, black clouds) . Such P. e. (see epithet) were a means of typification. Moreover, a word used with P. e. acquires a new quality, a meaning that differs in meaning from each of the words separately. The combination red maiden means “a beautiful girl, no different from others: neither prettier, nor smarter, nor richer than others.” If an ancient storyteller or singer needed to characterize the special properties of his characters, he looked for an epithet of an individualizing nature. Prince Vladimir, who is planning to get married, wants to find a bride worthy of his princely title, and creates the image of an ideal, from his point of view, girl: As if that girl were stately in figure, stately in figure and accomplished in mind, her white face, as if white snow... The role of P. e. in folklore is huge. They are one of the main means of artistic expression of epics and songs, tales and legends. Some P. e. are widely used in all types of folklore: good fellow, clean field, blue sea, dark forests, green meadows. Others are found primarily in certain genres of folk poetry, while performing specific ideological and artistic functions. For example, P. e. is widely used in fairy tales. fantastic character: golden palace, crystal bridge, underground kingdom, firebird, flying carpet. In the epics of P. e. serve as an important means in creating images of heroes, describing their armor and the situation of battles: a mighty hero, a good horse, a red-hot arrow, a damask club. In contrast to the epic genres of folklore, where P. e. play a mainly descriptive and figurative role; in folk poetry the function of poetic e.g. predominantly expressive, emotional and evaluative. For example, in traditional lyrical songs the following emotional and evaluative E. are often found: dear mother, dear father, dear friend, soul-maiden, poor little head, burning tears. P. e. are specific. ditties: cheerful little girl, dear fun, sweet drolya, desperate little head. P. e. found in the epic poetry of different peoples. Thus, Homer’s “Iliad” is characterized by P. e.: cloud-catcher Zeus, pink-fingered Eos, silver-legged Thetis. Lit.: Epithet in Russian folk art. - M., 1980; Lazutin S.G. Poetics of Russian folklore. - M., 1981; see also lit. to the article Epithet. L.E. Tumina

An epithet is a kind of verbal definition that can update the overall semantic load of a word or enhance one of its characteristic features.
The epithet is characterized by constancy or attachment to certain archetypes. That is, it can be constantly used along with certain words. So, for example, the sea is always dark, the bridle is silk, the yar is deep, the heart is sincere, the mother is dear, and spring is red.
Such constancy was formed as a result of the evolution of lyric-epic creativity with its heroic and historical songs. Using constant epithets, the author draws inspiration from the depths folk wisdom and completely trusts the charms folklore images. Such artistic media express national mentality, found in the pearls of folk song literature.
Constant epithets have a generalized meaning that characterizes the word regardless of the context. Thus, a noun, along with a definition that highlights its main feature, merges into a constant artistic device that travels along the paths of works.
There are two significant groups of permanent epithets that are tied to a Person or natural phenomena. You can often find images beautiful girl with brown eyes, a light brown braid and a delicate condition, next to which her dear guy, a brave warrior, gallops on a black horse with a sharp saber. The listed definitions act as permanent epithets that convey appearance.
The epithets “orphan girl” and “idler boy” have a social orientation, indicating the hero’s position in society. Separately, there are constant epithets with a touch of tautology: dark dungeon, stone wall, young girl. They have a bright stylistic meaning and are more pronounced for emotional perception. Epithets that are assigned to specific nouns have become abstracted over time, acquiring a generalized symbolic content. On their basis, some writers create their own neologisms with characteristic means of expression and semantics. Others use those already developed by the people in oral creativity samples that reflect the song charm of the native language.

(No Ratings Yet)

  1. Novella is literary genre, formatted in prose. She less romance with its descriptive detailing of moments, but more of a story. Usually the novella is not as popular among readers as other epic...
  2. Modernism is a generalizing concept for a number of styles and trends not only in literature, but in everything art world, which is characterized by a new perception of human existence after realism. For...
  3. One of the components of happiness, one of the noblest goals of life and one of the greatest manifestations of humanity is love. We love not only people, we are imbued with this feeling for our brothers...
  4. The concept of “epic” reflects one of literary families, in which the author objectively describes the real world around him. Interacting with his realities, he himself can act as the main character or only leads the narrative...
  5. Making a person laugh is a very difficult task, which sometimes even the most best actors and writers. It's much easier to make people cry. To make the viewer or reader laugh...
  6. Communication is one of the most important things that makes a person happy, sociable and friendly. For many centuries, our speech has changed, improved and made more convenient. It is without language that there is no communication, but...
  7. It's hard to imagine literary works without allegory. To speak correctly, this literary device is simply necessary. Allegory is an expression abstract thought through a real image. This way of expression is very popular both in...
  8. Anaphora, directly translated from Greek, will be “attribution,” or in other words, it is the repetition of words, sentences, entire lines of poetry that are placed at the beginning. This stylistic figure is widely used in poetic...
  9. Hyperbole is a type literary tropes, which consists in excessive exaggeration in the characteristics of forces, characteristics, sizes, intensity and other properties of objects, actions and phenomena. Hyperbole is common literary device, which...
  10. In different books and films, characters are divided into negative and positive. Real heroes attract with their human qualities, real villains are repulsive. What are these character qualities that are called good?...
  11. A person’s upbringing is a very valuable trait that is worth paying attention to and developing in yourself. What is education? This is tactfulness - the ability to perceive other people positively, to be polite...
  12. Sometimes we don’t even notice how firmly special stable phrases have entered our lives and our language, which are perceived as inseparable statements and reproduced in the form of an integral structure that is equated...
  13. The appearance of the comedy “The Inspector General” in 1836 caused an uplifting, exciting feeling in society. More than 160 years have passed since then, but the comedy “The Inspector General” has not lost its relevance and its sound today...
  14. Poem by N.V. Gogol “ Dead souls” (1835-1841) belongs to those timeless works of art that address large-scale artistic generalizations and fundamental problems human life. In the deadening of the souls of Gogol's characters...
  15. Have you met folk tales, which are created by collective imagination. At the same time, in world literature there are many fairy tales whose authors were writers. You already know the names of such storytellers as Sh....
  16. Folklore. Genres of folklore Folklore (from English folk - people, lore - wisdom) is oral folk art. Folklore arose before the advent of writing. Its most important feature is that folklore is...
  17. FOREIGN LITERATURE ANACREON (CA. 570-478 BC) Anacreon (Anacreon) is the most prominent representative of ancient Greek lyric poetry of the 6th and early 5th centuries, originally from the city of Teos in Asia Minor. He was a court poet...
  18. Write separately: with short participles: the concert is not_finished, the error is not_corrected; With full participles, if there is a contrast with the conjunction A: not a finished, but a started concert; with full participles, if they have dependent...
  19. Composition (from Latin composition, connection) is the construction, arrangement of parts within a single whole, the interdependence of these parts, their subordination. Everything that is created, built - in material or spiritual sense– has...
  20. Who is King Lear (Lyr)? This name is shrouded in a haze of legends. His image is found in Celtic myths, where Lear is depicted as the ruler of the sea. He is also mentioned in the ancient chronicle "History of Britain"...
  21. The poet Akhmatova lived a long and difficult life together with her people, her fate even for ours cruel century especially tragic. In 1921, her husband, poet Nikolai Gumilyov, was shot....
  22. Gladiolus blooms in September. Its name comes from the Latin word for sword. The leaves of the plant are long and resemble a sword. It rises high to the sky. The extraordinary flowering is especially pleasing to the eye. Gladiolus flowers come in different...
  23. At all times there were different ideals of women. At one time, artists praised the curvaceous female form, and at another, the exquisite beauty of slender high society ladies. In the painting “Driver Valya” there is another Soviet era....
  24. FRENCH LITERATURE Jean Paul Sartre The Respectful Slut (La P... respectueuse) Play (1946) The action takes place in a small town in one of the southern states of America. Lizzie McKay, a young girl...
  25. I live in a newly built high-rise building in one of the residential areas of the city. The apartment is located on the twelfth floor, but this does not mean that the View from my window or balcony will be the same...
  26. Ballad (French Ballade, from Provence Balada - dance song) is a genre based on a narrative with an unusual historical, legendary, fantastic or everyday story. This narrative usually includes...
  27. At the age of 15, young Lermontov fell hopelessly in love with Ekaterina Sushkova, a flighty, flirtatious and rather cruel young lady. She ignored the advances of the young poet, although she admitted that she was very flattered by him...
  28. Folklore tradition in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” Plan I. The era of creation of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. II. The connection between the “Word...” and the oral folk art. 1. Genre originality"Words…". 2. Folklore elements V...
  29. Time flies quickly. The pompous 19th century is already far behind us, gone full of contradictions, social upheavals and revolutions - the twentieth. Our views, opinions, ideas about beauty change, but the concept remains eternal...
  30. Valery Shevchuk recalled the history of writing the work: “I wrote the book “House on the Mountain” as if from the end, that is, from the second, folklore-fantasy part “The Voice of the Grass.” It was written gradually: first one...
What are permanent epithets?

IN school curriculum The epithet receives a lot of attention: entire lessons are devoted to it, from the fifth grade to the ninth. Epithet is important means of expression, used not only by writers, but also ordinary people V everyday speech. Perhaps they are not so ornate and do not represent any artistic value, but each of us uses them almost daily.

This figure of speech was actively used by poets and writers of the 18th and 19th centuries, thanks to whom the modern Russian language emerged. These are Pushkin, Derzhavin, Baratynsky and others. The epithet is artistic definition phenomenon or object, helping to more vividly imagine this object, to feel how the author relates to it. As we are used to saying - a colorful definition. The word in a figurative sense is an epithet. Examples: sad man - here the word is used in its literal meaning; sad weather- figuratively. Dictionaries give other, more detailed definitions.

Expanded definition of epithet

An epithet is a word or an entire expression that, thanks to its structure and special functions in the text, is capable of acquiring a new semantic connotation or even meaning, thus highlighting unique individual characteristics in the depicted object and forcing it to be evaluated from a new, unusual point of view.

An epithet can interact with any type of semantic transfer - metonymy, metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, etc., coloring the text in a certain tone. The expressive function of this figure of speech becomes most noticeable when it forms a synonymous (sometimes quasi-synonymous) series, in which each of its members shades or complements the epithet. Examples: dull, sad weather; sad, mournful reflection of withering.

Permanent epithet

One that, when combined with the defined word, forms a stable figurative and poetic expression. That is, these are phrases or phrases that, when we hear them, we no longer feel that they are an epithet. Examples: golden autumn , blue sea. We find especially many constant epithets in folklore: red maiden, good fellow, clear field.

In addition, there are groups of epithets that are found primarily in certain specific genres of folk poetry: fairy tales are characterized by constant epithets of a fantastic nature - crystal bridge, golden palace.

Grammatical form of epithets, its characteristics and functions

The opinions of philologists differ on these issues. Some are sure that only a definition expressed by an adjective can act as an epithet. Others are inclined to believe that the grammatical function of an epithet word can be different, the main thing being the defining position of another word. In other words, both a verb, an adverb, and a gerund under certain circumstances are an epithet. Examples: reigns ghostly(I. Brodsky), sneaking, playing hide and seek, the sky comes down(B. Pasternak). As we can see from the definition and explanations, epithets actually occur in everyday speech: don’t we talk about a gloomy sky or sad rain? These figures allow us to make our speech figurative and pleasant.