The Russian language is particularly colorful and expressive. It is especially pronounced in fiction, but we pronounce many epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons in everyday life, sometimes without even noticing it.
Where is the expressiveness of speech hidden
In fact, almost any word in the Russian language that has an independent meaning can become a means of visualization. After all, any visualization is based on the use of the word in a figurative meaning. The transfer may be different. In everyday speech, metonyms and metaphors are most often used. People who strive for the brilliance of their speech, often resort to epithets.
Ambiguity is a source of visualization
In the Russian language there are a lot of adjectives and nouns in which several meanings are originally embedded. Some of them are direct and some are portable. For example, consider the adjective "iron". This is a relative adjective, which denotes the quality of an object according to the material of manufacture, literally "made of iron". However, the wise Russian people know that iron is strong metal, and therefore there are epithets that attach most often to people (for example, Margaret Thatcher - Iron Lady). In a figurative sense, this word denotes a strong, persistent, strong character. If a person is ready to go forward and does not stop before fears, then he has an iron will. If, for example, an athlete-boxer has a strong blow, then he has an iron fist. Thus, even the most ordinary-looking words can easily turn into epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons.
Invisible metaphors
Russian metaphors do not always look colorful and bright. Sometimes we don’t even know that we use them in speech.
In general, a metaphor is a lexical means of expression based on the transfer of the meaning of a word by similarity. In literary texts, it is very common. For example, we read at Yesenin: "In the garden, a bonfire of red mountain ash is burning ...". Mountain ash in the fall has a very bright color. She has red leaves and berries, like a bonfire.
Many words in Russian were formed through metaphorization. For example, door handle, table leg.
It's all about the function and purpose of things. Handle - to take it, and a leg, so that the table is cold. We call the larva of a butterfly a caterpillar, and the wheels of a tractor - caterpillars. It's all about the resemblance. The same can be said about chanterelle mushrooms, their red color resembles the color of a cunning animal fox.
We do not always notice that we use epithets, metaphors, avatars, comparisons. For example, we say that we have a lot of problems. Although problems are something that exists only as a concept in human consciousness, which means that they cannot be measured in heaps. When we see something tangled, we call it a tangle. And smoke, for example, can be compared with a cloud.
Avatar as a means of expression
Avatar is a means of expression, based on the endowment of an inanimate object with the properties of a living. In poetic speech it is used very often, especially when describing nature. The streams in the verses are whispering, the sky is crying, the cornfield is worrying, and the trees communicate easily with each other. Impersonation allows you to express one very important thought: man and nature are inextricably linked with each other.
In everyday speech, we also often resort to avatars. For example, when we say that the river is running, and the volcano has fallen asleep. Impersonations should not be confused with epithets. Let's say the "gloomy sky" is an epithet. Since figurative in this case is an adjective. But “the sky is frowning” is an embodiment.
Comparison
As well as epithets, metaphors, personifications, comparisons, help to make speech more vivid and expressive. Comparison, as a rule, is formed thanks to comparative unions as if, precisely, as if, as if, etc. Sometimes it is expressed with the help of a noun in the instrumental case. For example, soared kite. Such a combination can easily be converted into a classic comparative revolution - soared like a kite.
Based on the comparison, many phraseological combinations in the Russian language are built: white as snow, everything is like in fog, like in a dream, like a wind blew away, like in the spirit, etc.
Epithets
The most frequent means of expression. Epithets in a poem or prose are very easy to find. Without them, it is almost impossible to describe the subject. In addition, they allow you to express an author's assessment, create the desired emotional mood.
How to find epithets, metaphors, avatars, comparisons in texts
First, you need to know the definition of each of the means. Secondly, you need to develop your vigilance. Try to select from the text all the "beautiful" words that give brightness, make the text more emotional. And from all the words you need to choose the usual emotionally colored words and definitions, and then the means of expression. An example is Lermontov’s poem "When a Yellowing Cornfield is Excited." It is small in volume, but replete with figures of speech.
The epithets in the poem: "sweet shadow", "fragrant dew", "silver lily of the valley", "ruddy evening".
Metaphor: "plunging a thought into some vague dream."
Avatars: a cornfield is worried, a lily of the valley nods its head.