Examples of comparison in literature are in prose and poems. Definition and examples of comparisons in Russian

You can endlessly talk about the beauty and richness of the Russian language. These considerations are just another reason to engage in such a conversation. So, comparisons.

What is the comparison

In fact, this term is ambiguous. This fact is confirmed by the endless examples of comparison that we observe in everyday life. In colloquial speech, it is rather an assimilation of different objects, the assertion that they are equal or similar.

In mathematics, the term “comparison” is intertwined with the same concept of “relation”. Comparing numbers to equality or inequality, we find the difference between them.

Comparison is also called the process of comparing the similarities and differences, disadvantages and advantages of several objects. As the examples show, comparisons in such sciences as philosophy, psychology, and sociology are some kind of cognitive operations that underlie discussions about the similarities and differences of the objects studied. With the help of comparisons, all sorts of characteristics of these objects or phenomena are revealed.

Comparison in the literature: definition and examples

Stylistic and literary comparisons have a slightly different meaning. These are figures of speech, stylistic devices in which some phenomena or objects are likened to others according to some common feature. The comparison method can be simple, then in the turn there are usually certain words. Among them are: “like,” “like,” “like,” “exactly.” But there is an indirect method of comparison: in this case, the comparison is made using a noun in the instrumental case without an excuse. Example: “Onegin lived as an anchoret” (“Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin).

Comparisons and metaphors

Comparisons are inextricably linked with another literary concept, metaphor - an expression used in a figurative sense. Actually, the basis of the metaphor is not directly expressed comparison. For example, A. Blok’s line “Streams of My Poems Run” is a typical metaphor (the word “streams” is used figuratively). But this line is also a comparison: verses run like streams.

It is interesting to use metaphorical techniques in the case of the so-called negative comparison. Examples of comparison can be easily found in epics. “Not two clouds in the sky converged, two remote knights converged” - this model of the Old Russian epic simultaneously emphasizes the similarity of formidable warriors with dark terrible clouds, and their identity is denied, and a completely amazing overall picture is drawn.

Negative comparisons, more characteristic of the works of folk art and their folklore stylizations, play a special role in the perception of the artistic image. Here is a line from the work of A. Nekrasov: “It’s not the kindergarten’s keener that blows, the head rips out, crying, the young widow is pricking and chopping wood”. The second part of the expression (Having burst into tears ...) and in itself is self-sufficient, completely conveys the required meaning. But only the combination of both parts of the proposal allows you to feel all the bitterness, all the tragedy of what happened.

Language Expression Tool

Comparisons help explain concepts or phenomena by comparing them with other objects - sweet, like honey, sour, like vinegar. But the main goal is by no means emphasizing the characteristic properties of the subject. The main thing is the figurative, most accurate expression of the author’s thought, because one of the most powerful means of expression is comparison. Examples from the literature brilliantly illustrate his role in shaping the image that the author needs. Here is a line of creation from M.Yu. Lermontova: "Garun ran faster than a fallow deer, faster than a hare from an eagle." One could simply say: “Garun ran very fast” or “Garun ran fast.” But, being absolutely true in essence, such phrases would not have achieved even to a small degree the effect that is inherent in Lermontov’s lines.

Features

Paying tribute to comparisons as powerful exponents of the features of Russian speech, many researchers were amazed at the rationality of these comparisons. It would seem, and where is rationality? Indeed, from comparisons no one requires special accuracy, literacy! But here are dissimilar comparison examples, lines belonging to different people. “There were fire cannons here, like glasses of bloody wine” (N. Zabolotsky) and “It looks like fate, you’re like a butcher in the market, whose knife is bloodied from tip to handle” (Khakani). Despite the dissimilarity of these expressions, they are distinguished by a common feature. Both phrases tell about completely ordinary things (about red colors, about a difficult human fate) and, written in a slightly different form, could easily be lost in any text. But the use of comparisons (“glasses of bloody wine”, “butcher’s knife”) turned out to be exactly the touch that consciously added simple words to special expressiveness and emotionality. Perhaps that is why in songs and romantic poems, where the emotional mood is already strong, comparisons are even less common than in realistic narratives.

Comparison examples in Russian

Russian is considered one of the most difficult. And at the same time, the creations of Russian classics in the world are recognized as the most striking, original, talented. It seems that there is an inextricable link between these facts. The difficulty of learning a language lies in the considerable number of features, capabilities, rules present in it. But this also opens up a huge scope for a talented writer who managed to master tricks. The Russian language is indeed very rich: it has truly unlimited possibilities that make it possible to turn an ordinary word into a bright visual image, make it sound in a new way, so that it remains forever in memory. Poetry works are especially suited to this. "Our life in old age is a worn bathrobe: it is a shame to wear it and it’s a pity to leave it." This line by P. Vyazemsky is an excellent example of the use of comparisons in literary work.

About A.S. Pushkin

The great poet was a recognized genius in possession of the most complex literary devices. The comparisons used in his poems and poems amaze with their unexpectedness and, at the same time, accuracy and accuracy.

“His beaver collar is silvering with frosty dust” is a line from the poem “Eugene Onegin”. Only a few words, but a capital boulevard, covered with snow, and a young dandy going to the ball pop up before his eyes. And then there’s the episode at the ball: “Entered: and the cork on the ceiling, the current of the comet blamed”. Write to Pushkin that the footman uncorked a bottle of champagne, he would not back down from the truth. But would such a picture of unusual, festive, sparkling fun come up so clearly then?

And this is already from the poem “The Bronze Horseman”: “And before the younger capital the old Moscow faded, like a porphyry-bearing widow before the new queen.” Is it possible to convey more precisely the atmosphere of a certain patriarchy and even abandonment that reigned in Moscow after the city of Peter was called the capital of Russia? “Let the Finnish waves forget their hostility and captivity!” - this is about how the waters of the Neva were chained into granite. Yes, probably, this could be stated without comparisons, but would the paintings drawn by the author appear so clearly before my eyes?

And more about Russian poetry

There are enough remarkable examples of the use of comparative images in the works of other Russian poets. Amazing comparisons in Bunin’s poem “Childhood” accurately convey the atmosphere of a hot summer day, the sensations of a child who enjoys the sun and forest scents. The author’s sand is silk, the trunk of the tree is a giant, and the summer forest, flooded with sun, is the sun’s chambers.

No less remarkable, although completely different examples are present in the works of other Russian word masters. Comparisons in Yesenin's poem "Good morning!" open the reader to the summer dawn. Gold stars doze, instead of river water there is a mirror of backwater, green earrings on birch trees, silver dews burn, and nettles are dressed in bright mother of pearl. In fact, the whole poem is one big comparison. And how beautiful it is!

You can talk about comparisons in the works of S. Yesenin for a long time - before that they are all bright, imaginative and at the same time dissimilar. If in the work “Good morning” the atmosphere is light, joyful, pleasant, then when reading the poem “The Black Man” there is a feeling of heaviness, even disaster (it is not for nothing that it is considered a kind of requiem of the author). And this atmosphere of hopelessness is also being formed thanks to unusually accurate comparisons!

“Black Man” is a poem tragically peculiar. A certain black man who arose either in a dream or in a feverish delirium of the author. Yesenin is trying to understand what kind of vision. And then a whole series of brilliant comparisons: “Just like a grove in September, alcohol showers in my brain”, “My head waves its ears like a bird, you can’t loosen its legs anymore”, “In December, snow is clear to the devil in that country, and snowstorms make fun spinning wheels. ” You read these lines and see everything: a bright frosty winter, and a huge human despair.

Conclusion

There are many ways to express your thoughts. But for some it is faded and dull phrases, or even completely incoherent babble, while for others it is luxurious flowery paintings. Comparisons and other artistic techniques make it possible to achieve the figurativeness of speech, both written and oral. And do not neglect this wealth.