In order to make a written text or speech bright, memorable and expressive, the authors use certain artistic techniques, traditionally called pathways and figures of speech. These include: metaphor, epithet, personification, hyperbole, comparison, allegory, periphrase and other turns of speech, where words or expressions are used in a figurative meaning to give greater expressiveness to what has been said.
Next, we will learn to distinguish between all kinds of paths and how to use them.
What are epithets and metaphors
The most common means of expression in literary speech are epithets and metaphors.
The word "epithet" in Greek has the meaning of "applied." That is, in the name itself there is already an explanation of the essence - this is a definition that figuratively characterizes any object or phenomenon. The sign, which is expressed by the epithet, thus, as if attached to the described object, it complements it emotionally and even in meaning.
In linguistics and lexicology, there is as yet no generally accepted theory that accurately explains what epithets and metaphors are. Usually they talk about three types of epithets:
- general language - those that have stable communications that are often used in literary speech (silver dew, crackling frost, etc.);
- folk-poetic - used in folklore (red maiden, sweet speech, good fellow, etc.);
- individually-authorial - created by the authors of literary works (case considerations (A.P. Chekhov), scratching eyes (M. Gorky)).
Metaphors, unlike epithets, are not only one word, but also an expression that is used in a figurative sense. Metaphors are selected on the basis of similarity or, on the contrary, the contrast of any phenomena or objects.
How and when is a metaphor used
In more detail, what epithets and metaphors are, and also what is their difference, you can understand if you understand that the main requirement for the use of the latter is their originality, unusualness, ability to evoke emotional associations and help to represent some kind of event or phenomenon.
Here is an example of a metaphorical description of the night sky in the novel “Troy” by M. Gorky: “The milky way with a silver cloth spread across the sky from edge to edge - it was pleasant and sad to look at it through the branches of a tree”.
The use of stereotyped metaphors that have lost their originality and emotional richness from frequent use can reduce the quality of a work or speech.
No less dangerous may be excessiveness, an abundance of metaphors. Speech in such cases becomes excessively flowery and ornate, which is why its perception can be disturbed.
How to distinguish between metaphor and epithet
In works it is sometimes quite difficult to distinguish which paths the author uses. To do this, one must once again understand in comparison what epithets and metaphors are.
A metaphor is a pictorial device, which is based on analogy, transferring meaning in similarity, likeness: “Morning laughed through the windows. Her eyes are dark agates. ”
Epithet, on the other hand, is one of the cases of metaphor, more simply, an artistic definition (“Warm milk twilight, icy cold stars”).
Based on the foregoing, it is already possible to understand what a metaphor, epithet, personification is and find them in the above example: “It was seen how long needles swept from a cheerful blue sky, from a high smoky cloud, a drop ...” (I. Bunin, “Little novel").
It is clear that metaphors were used in it (drops drove along with long needles), and epithets (from a smoky cloud) and personification (a cheerful blue sky).
Avatar - a special metaphor-allegory
So what is a metaphor, an epithet, an avatar? This, as you already understood, is a means of transmitting the author’s attitude to a phenomenon or object, a kind of peculiar paint that allows you to make written or pronounced bright and memorable.
And from this series one can distinguish personification - a special path with a long history rooted in folk art. Impersonation is the same as allegory, transferring the properties of a living being to phenomena or objects.
One of the genres closest to folklore, the fable, is also built on the use of avatars.
Unlike such paths as metaphor, epithet, comparison, personification - it is also a very economical technique. Applying it, one does not need to describe the subject in detail, it is enough to compare it with something already familiar in order to evoke the necessary associations: “And how miserable are covered with decrepit straw, belly-rooted hatens of village landless poor-bearers!” (I. S. Sokolov-Mikitov, "Childhood").
What is a comparison
It is impossible to imagine a work devoid of comparisons, comparisons of something with something, the assimilation of one phenomenon to another, which allows them to more accurately, figuratively describe them and at the same time convey their attitude to them.
The classics of Russian literature masterfully mastered the art of applying epithets, metaphors, comparisons: “On a blue velvet-studded sky of heaven, the black patterns of foliage looked like someone’s arms stretched out to the sky in an attempt to reach its heights” (M. Gorky, “Three” )
Difficult cases in determining comparison
Sometimes the expressive technique described above - comparison - can be quite difficult to distinguish from cases where the sentence simply uses words with the unions “how,” “as if,” and “like,” but for other purposes.
We repeat once more - epithets, metaphors, comparisons are paths that help to enrich, “color” what was said. So, in the sentence “We saw how he slowly walked towards the forest” there is no comparison, there is only a union connecting the parts of a complex sentence. In the sentence, “We went out into the corridor, where it was dark and cold, as in a cellar” (I. Bunin), a clear comparison (cold as in a cellar).
Ways to Express Comparisons
And so that in a series of metaphor, epithet, comparison, personification, we can finally deal with each path, let us linger a little more on the comparison.
It is expressed in different ways:
- with the help of turns with the words “how”, “exactly”, “as if”, etc. (“Her hair curled like a mustache of a pea”);
- the comparative degree of the adjective or adverb ("the language is sharper than a razor");
- the instrumental case of the noun ("love sang in the heart of the nightingale");
- as well as lexically (using the words “similar to”, “similar”, etc.).
What is hyperbole?
Hyperbole differs from the use of such paths as metaphor, epithet, comparison, hyperbole with a particular richness, exaggeration of the essence. Many authors willingly use this technique: "He had a completely impassive, some kind of stone, rusted face."
Hyperbolic receptions include fairy-tale giants, Thumbelina, and Boy-and-finger, inhabiting fairy tales. And in the epics of the hyperbole - this is an indispensable attribute: the heroes of the heroes are always exorbitant, and the enemy is fierce and countless.
Even in everyday speech you can find a hyperbole: “We have not seen each other for a thousand years!” or "Spilled the sea of tears."
Metaphor, epithet, comparison, hyperbole are often used in combination, giving rise to hyperbolic comparisons or personifications and metaphors (“rain poured down a solid wall”).
The ability to use trails will make your speech imaginative and vibrant
At one time, V. G. Belinsky argued that speaking well and speaking correctly was not the same thing. Indeed, even perfect, in terms of grammar, speech can be difficult to perceive.
And from the foregoing, you probably already understood what a metaphor, epithet, personification, and that being able to use these techniques is extremely important. A thoughtful reading of the works of classics will help you in this - since it is precisely them that can be considered the standard of application of all the stylistic richness of the Russian language.
Read the Gogol lines: “Words ... similar to flowers, the same tender, bright and juicy ...”, in which the author was able to clearly convey his impression of the sound of words with a small set of artistic means . And remember that metaphor, hyperbole, epithet are those tools that will hone your speech, which means you need to learn how to use them!