To the question of what a comparison is in literature, one can briefly answer that this is a trope, that is, a special device in fiction. This technique is based on the display of certain properties of the described object or phenomenon by comparing these signs with others, based on how they are seen or perceived by others or individually by the author.
Component Comparisons
This path is characterized by the presence of three components: the described object or phenomenon, the object with which it is compared, and the basis for analogy, that is, a common sign. An interesting fact is that the name itself, an indication of this common feature, may be omitted in the text. But the reader or listener nevertheless perfectly understands and feels that he wanted to convey to the interlocutor or reader the author of the statement.
However, the very understanding of the definition explaining what such a comparison in the literature does not yet give a complete picture without examples. And here, a clarification immediately arises: with what parts of speech and in what forms do the authors form these paths?
Types of comparisons in the literature for nouns
There are several types of comparisons.
- The comparative turnover formed by the use of the “how”, “like”, “like”, “exactly” unions is a comparison in the literature. Examples: “A hill covered with snow is like a huge cake, abundantly sprinkled with powdered sugar.” It is possible to replace these unions with the word “what” in the same meaning: “A hypocrite person like a wolf in sheep's clothing: speaks affectionately and carefully, and prepares a plan for your destruction in his thoughts.”
- Non-union comparisons are widely used in literature, for example: “Everyone was struck by the scientist’s room - a museum with exhibits, the purposes of which were not clear to anyone who came.”
- Often the trait itself is omitted, prompting the author to a comparison. In this case, the name of the object or phenomenon with which it is being compared is used either in the nominative or in the instrumental case. Here are examples of comparisons from fiction in which the symptom itself is missing: "The soul of a lover is a cat abandoned in a cold forest, homeless and unhappy"; "And then suddenly the little puppies-milyagi bristled and bared their evil wild wolves."
- Negative comparisons also take place in the literature, for example: "Hunger is not a sister, you get up and catch a sturgeon."
- Often, comparisons use forms of nouns in the genitive case: “Tanya combed Pulechka, made her ponytails like a girl’s.”
- The composition of this trail, as the comparison is called in literature, often includes the words “similar”, “reminded” instead of conjunctions “like”, “like”, “like”, “exactly”: “Ah, how our dog Arthur is wearing glasses and "dad's scarf to the doctor of mathematical sciences from the second floor!" or "The cake baked by Marinka strangely resembled a long-chewed Orbit, richly oiled with jam."
- In literature, and in ordinary people's speech, there are not only simple comparisons, but also detailed ones, when the attention of the interlocutor or reader, listener, viewer is drawn to several signs. For example: “At first, a lie is sweet, like honey, and then harder than a hina” or “The tail of a rooster, that the tail of a peacock: beautiful and bright, and useless, even harmful - at any moment the mistress will catch a handsome man for him and fix it in soup.” Revealing the essence of the question of what a comparison is in the literature, one should not forget that it is possible to compare not only the signs of objects or phenomena expressed by nouns. At least people need to compare actions in the image, time, place.
Literature Comparisons
Usually in such constructions verbs and adverbs, nouns or whole turns and subordinate sentences are involved .
- Comparisons of actions in an image are more often expressed in adverbs with a particle - for example: "Savushkin laughed like an owl, loudly screaming and whistling with a sigh."
- Often in comparisons of actions, a noun is used that indicates an object that performs a similar action. In them, like constructions with nouns, the same alliances are used. "Laugh like an owl," "jump like a lion," "slept like a gopher."
- Comparison-negation of the mode of action also takes place in the literature. "It's good to joke - don't cut trees."
- Time mode comparisons are one of the most important and often used. “He studied the paragraph for so long, as if he was building a huge wall a kilometer high” is an example of a detailed comparison.
- Comparisons at the scene of the action are also often found in speeches: "Traveling in a populous city is the same as in the desert: no one answers questions, no matter how much you ask."
- Sometimes the very action of an object or phenomenon is omitted, and only comparison is used in the expression - the action itself should be guessed independently. “The rain seemed to be enraged: it whipped all over the place with a silver whip, churned puddles, choked with a strong wind.”
Why do we need comparisons in the literature
Having dealt with the question of what a comparison is in the literature, it is necessary to understand: are they needed? To do this, a little research should be done.
Here is a literary text that uses comparisons: “The dark forest stood as if after a fire. The moon was hiding behind the clouds, as a shy girl covers her face with a black scarf. The wind seemed to fall asleep in the bushes. "
And here is the same text in which all comparisons were removed. “The dark forest stood. The moon was hiding behind the clouds. Wind". In principle, the very meaning is conveyed in the text. But how much more imaginative is the picture of the night forest in the first version than in the second!
Do you need comparisons in ordinary speech
Some might think that comparisons are only necessary for writers and poets. But ordinary people in their ordinary lives do not need them at all. This statement is completely false!
At the doctor’s appointment, the patient, describing his feelings, will necessarily resort to comparisons: “My heart hurts ... It’s as if she’s cutting it with a knife, or someone’s clenching it in a fist ...” Grandma, explaining to her granddaughter how to make pancake dough, also has to compare “You add water until the dough becomes like thick sour cream.” Mom tiredly yanks the excessively amused baby: "Enough to ride like a hare!"
Many will probably object that the article is about comparisons in the literature. What does our ordinary speech have to do with it? Be proud, average people: many people talk using literary speech. Therefore, even vernacular is one of the layers of literature.
Comparisons in highly specialized literature
Even technical texts cannot do without comparisons. For example, so as not to repeat the process described above in the recipe for fried fish, to reduce it, the author often writes: “Fish should be fried like cutlets.”
Or in a manual for people who learn the basics of constructing from plywood or wood, you can find the phrase: “The screws are screwed with a drill in the same way as they are twisted. Only before work should you set the desired mode on it. "
Comparisons are a necessary technique in the literature of various directions. The ability to use them correctly distinguishes a cultured person.