The concept of metaphor
Our Russian language, called mighty and great, is diverse and, at first glance, incomprehensible to any foreigner. We can invent new words, use them in different word forms, which is hardly available to people for whom this language is not native. They are especially incomprehensible to our tropes, that is, figurative and expressive means, which include metaphors. What is a metaphor? For a person who studies the Russian language quite closely, the answer to this question is obvious. Metaphor is a figurative use of words based on the transfer of signs from one phenomenon to another. Such a transfer is possible due to the comparison of two objects. For example, "golden ring" and "golden hair". Comparison is based on color. In other words, the answer to the question, what is a metaphor, may sound as follows - this is a hidden comparison.
There are three elements of comparison:
The subject of comparison (here it is considered what is being compared).
The image of comparison (the object is taken as the basis, with which they are compared).
Sign of comparison (on the basis of which the comparison is made).
Main Functions of Metaphor
1. Estimated.
Usually the use of metaphors is aimed at evoking certain feelings and ideas in a person. Take, for example, such an expression as "bronze of muscles." It is clear that strong, pumped up muscles are meant here.
2. Emotive- (emotionally)-evaluative.
Another function that emphasizes the importance of metaphor in giving speech a certain imagery. Here we are talking not only about strengthening some feature, but about creating a new image. For example, "talk of the waves." The waves are likened to a living being, a picture arises in the imagination of a person depicting the unhurried muttering of the waves.
3. Nominative (naming).
With this function, a new object is introduced into the language context. For example, "pull the rubber", that is, slow down.
4. Cognitive.
Metaphors allow you to see the essential and obvious in the subject. Knowing what a metaphor is, you can diversify your speech, make it more figurative.
Varieties of metaphors
Metaphors, like any tropes, have their own varieties:
Sharp. Such a metaphor connects concepts that are far standing in meaning.
- Erased. Absolutely opposite to a sharp metaphor, connects concepts that are similar to each other. For example, "door handle".
- Metaphor in the form of a formula. Close to an erased metaphor, but is a frozen expression. It is sometimes impossible to decompose it into components. For example, "the cup of life".
- Expanded. Such a metaphor is quite voluminous and unfolds throughout the entire fragment of speech.
Implemented. This metaphor is sometimes used literally. Most often to create a comic situation. For example, "before losing your temper, think about the way back."
There are many types of metaphor, such as synecdoche or metonymy. But this is a deeper level of language learning. Thus, knowing what a metaphor is, you can easily use it in your speech, making it more beautiful, diverse and understandable.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses a word or expression in an unusual sense, with significant similarities between the two terms.
This word was brought from Greek (μεταφορά), where it means “change”, “permutation”, “translation”, “transfer”.
Metaphor is a comparison of words, where one term replaces another. This is an abbreviated comparison in which the verb is not expressed, but only implied.
For example: “My friend is like a bull, he himself dragged a heavy cabinet.” It is obvious that he is not a bull and does not physically resemble this animal at all, but he is so strong that he resembles a bull. This example compares the strength of an animal and that person.
This rhetorical figure corresponds to the replacement of one term by another through analogy.
An analogy is a relation of established similarity between two or more separate objects. An analogy can be made, for example, between the head and the body or the captain and the soldiers. It is important to note that for an analogy to occur, there must be similar semantic elements between the two terms.
Metaphor is a linguistic tool often used in everyday life, which is important in communication between people. It would be almost impossible to speak and think without resorting to metaphor.
Recent studies have shown that during a conversation, people use an average of 4 metaphors per minute. Often people are unwilling or unable to express how they really feel. Therefore, they say phrases-metaphors, where the meaning is implied.
Examples of metaphors:
- sharp mind;
- stone heart;
- golden head;
- iron character;
- skillful fingers;
- poisonous person;
- gold words;
- the cat cried;
- hedgehog gloves;
- dead night;
- wolf grip;
- the fifth wheel in the cart;
- step on the same rake.
Metaphor - examples from literature
"We drink from the cup of being with our eyes closed..."
(M. Lermontov)
"The old woman's hut with the jaw of the threshold
Chews the odorous crumb of silence"
(S. Yesenin)
"Dozing on my wall
Willow lace shadow"
(N. Rubtsov)
"The autumn of life, like the autumn of the year, must be gratefully accepted"
(E. Ryazanov)
"Ensigns stuck their eyes into the king"
(A. Tolstoy)
"The sky above the port was the color of a TV set on an empty channel"
(William Gibson)
"All our words are but crumbs that fall during the feast of our mind"
(Khalil Gibran)
Types of metaphor
Nominative metaphor
This is a tool for creating new terms, designed to form the names of objects that do not yet have their own name.
For example:
- Earth satellite;
- zipper;
- table leg;
- spout;
- the bow of the ship (the similarity of objects in shape and location;
- cup handle;
- door peephole;
- foot of the mountain;
- chair back;
- Rose of Wind;
- eyeball;
- white of the eye
- chanterelles (mushroom variety)
- umbrella (type of inflorescence), etc.
"Metaphorical freshness" of such names exists only at the moment of nomination. Gradually, the inner form of the metaphor “fades out”, the connection with the corresponding object is lost.
cognitive metaphor
Metaphorization of the meaning of sign (predicate) words generates this type of metaphor, which has cognitive value, since with its help a person can comprehend an abstract concept based on a concrete one. For example: stand up as a wall, dull pain, sharp mind, prickly answer, etc.
According to the concept of N. D. Arutyunova, from a means of creating an image, a cognitive metaphor turns into a way of forming the meanings missing in the language.
figurative metaphor
Metaphorization may be accompanied by a syntactic shift: the noun moves from a nominal position to a predicate position.
For example: Sobakevich was a real bear; he is such a hare, he is afraid of everything, etc. A metaphor of this type has the goal of individualizing or evaluating an object. The figurative metaphor contributes to the expansion of the synonymic means of the language, leads to the emergence of new synonymous connections (shy and hare).
Conceptual metaphor
This type is already understood as a way of thinking about one area of experience through the lens of another, for example, the expression "a love relationship has come to a standstill" can be interpreted as an implementation of the conceptual metaphor "love is a journey".
The images in which the world is comprehended are, as a rule, stable and universal within one culture. Despite the fact that the image is erased from the repeated use of the metaphor, the positive or negative connotation associated with it remains.
The conceptual metaphor is called upon to perform in the language the function of forming new concepts-concepts on the basis of the already formed ones. Examples: election car, presidential race, field of activity.
What is a trope
A trope is a figurative turn of speech in which a word or expression is used in a figurative sense, two objects or phenomena that are related in meaning are compared.
The word "trope" comes from other Greek. τρόπος "turnover". It is used to enhance the figurativeness of the language and the artistic expressiveness of speech. Tropes are widely used in the literature, in oratory and in everyday speech.
The main types of trails:
- metaphor;
- metonymy;
- synecdoche;
- epithet;
- hyperbola;
- dysphemism;
- pun;
- litotes;
- comparison;
- paraphrase;
- allegory;
- pathos;
- personification;
- sarcasm;
- oxymoron;
- irony;
- euphemism.
Difference Between Metaphor and Comparison
Metaphor involves a veiled, allegorical, figurative comparison. The object being compared is called the name of something similar to it. Comparison usually refers to homogeneous or close objects.
The meaning of a metaphor is always figurative, and in comparison - direct. Comparison is built only with physical objects, but in a metaphor in different ways.
Metaphor, without indicating the presence of similarities, encourages us to look for the common qualities of objects, and comparison directly indicates the similarities between objects.
Metaphor is often more voluminous in content than comparison, and introductory words does not require. Comparative conjunctions are often used in comparison.
Iceberg metaphor
Iceberg metaphor - the point is that often visible part the iceberg that is on the surface is very small compared to the one that is submerged in water. This metaphor is widely used to explain various social phenomena.
The iceberg metaphor is often used to describe the human mind, where the surface part is the conscious and the larger, submerged part is the subconscious.
This metaphor makes people realize that there is often more truth than our eyes can see. With it, we can also learn that there is still a lot beyond the surface and it often has much more value than what is on the surface and visible to everyone.
This example shows how the use of metaphors enriches our language.
Metaphor (from the Greek metaphora "transfer") is one of the most powerful and frequent means of secondary nomination. This is a universal phenomenon in the language. Its universality is manifested in space and time, in the structure of the language and in its functioning. It is inherent in all languages and in all eras; it covers different aspects of the language. In linguistics, the problem of metaphor - both as a process that creates new meanings of linguistic expressions in the course of their rethinking, and as a ready-made metaphorical meaning - has been considered for a long time, but until now there are disagreements between scientists in the linguistic understanding of metaphor.
We find serious information about the features of metaphor already in ancient and Roman theories of language and style. Aristotle described the metaphor most fully, in comparison with other ancient authors, defining it as “the transfer of words with a changed meaning from gender to species, or from species to gender, or from species to species, or in the form of proportion” [Ancient theories of language and style 1996: 184]. Describing the features of the metaphor, Cicero noted that this means of secondary nomination “gives the greatest brightness and brilliance to speech, strewn with it, as it were, with stars” [Ibid: 223]. All ancient authors drew attention to the close relationship between metaphor and comparison, for example: “comparison is also a metaphor” (Aristotle) [Ibid: 190], “metaphor is a shortened comparison” (Quintilian) [Ibid: 232], “metaphor is comparison reduced to one word” (Cicero) [Ibid: 229]
Some modern definitions also speak of metaphor as a transfer: “metaphor (from the Greek. metaphora transfer), tropes, transferring the properties of one object (phenomenon) to another based on a feature that is common or similar for both compared members (“talk of waves”, "bronze of muscles")" [Universal Encyclopedia].
In the explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov and Shvedova, we find the following explanation for the word: “The appearance of a trail, a hidden figurative comparison, the likening of one object, a phenomenon to another (for example, a cup of being), as well as a figurative comparison in general in different types of arts. In linguistics: the figurative use of the word" [Ozhegov, Shvedova].
Here is how the term “metaphor” is defined in the encyclopedia Krugosvet: “a metaphor (Greek “transfer”), a trope or a figure of speech, consisting in the use of a word denoting a certain class of objects (objects, persons, phenomena, actions or signs), to designate another , similar to the data, a class of objects or a single object; for example: a wolf, an oak and a club, a snake, a lion, a rag as applied to a person; sharp, dull - about the properties of the human mind, and so on ”[Encyclopedia Around the World].
In the essay by A.N. Baranov to the Dictionary of Russian Political Metaphor, metaphor is defined from the point of view of cognitive theory as “a complex cognitive phenomenon resulting from the interaction of two semantic complexes - content/focus/source and shell/frame/goal” [A.N. Baranov, Essay on the cognitive theory of metaphor]. This definition is based on the terminology of M. Black, who “focus” refers to a word in an expression used in a figurative sense, that is, metaphorically, and “frame” (“frame”) a word or a word surrounding “focus”, used in the usual sense [M. Black, Metaphor].
“Metaphor,” according to the figurative expression of M. Black, “is the top of a flooded model [Black: 1979]. And many sought to give it a floating state, hoping to see it in action. Without a doubt, we can state that there is an extensive literature on this topic. Work on the study of metaphor is still ongoing. Linguist T.N. Markova speaks about metaphorical space in the prose of Pelevin (2004), A.P. Chudinov considers phytonymic metaphor in modern political speech(2005) and defines metaphor as the main mental operation that unites two conceptual spheres and creates the opportunity to use the potential of structuring the source sphere with the help of a new sphere [Chudinov A.P., 2000: 7]. Linguistics also considers various areas that study metaphor.
Through the efforts of modern linguists, in particular Cherkasova E.T., Serebrennikov B.A., Kubryakov E.S., linguistic concepts and processes that determine the emergence and functioning of metaphor in speech were determined. These include: the main meaning of the word, a common semantic element, which is the result of the formation of a semantic duality of a metaphorical meaning; lexico-semantic connections of words that logically do not correspond to the real connections of objects and phenomena of reality, a certain semantic type of a word, grammatical categories of animation - inanimateness of nouns.
The above provisions have already become traditional, classical in the theory of metaphor, for example: statements about the semantic duality of metaphors, about semantic components common to the main and figurative meanings, about an unusual metaphorical environment, about certain semantic classes of words capable of developing figurative meanings.
In the study of metaphors, the main value is given to the main lexical meaning the words. But here, too, there are some problems, since this case we are talking about a noun in the role of a metaphor for the position of the predicate, application and combination with genitive case another noun. But the characterizing function of metaphor requires its expression in the form of a predicate. N.D. Arutyunova writes: “The thesis that a metaphor is correlated with the position of a predicate does not imply that any predicate that is figurative in its meaning is a metaphor. The metaphor in the predicate faces limitations due to morphological and lexico-semantic factors. [Arutyunova N.D., 1988: 5] The issue of the syntactic design of metaphors is also considered unresolved, and its complexity is aggravated by the possibility of combining several tropes in the same language unit. So, a metaphor can be hyperbolic, metonymic, ironic, there are metaphorical comparisons, metaphorical paraphrases.
It should be noted that the metaphor exists in the language as a real semantic-syntactic unit. Therefore, here we can talk about the signs of a metaphor:
- 1) a sign of semantic duality. This sign should, first of all, be considered from the point of view of interpretation of direct and figurative meaning. Many interpretations can be given, where the direct and figurative meanings are revealed in such a way that their common features emerge. So, the main and figurative meanings in the word "pulse" are combined in the idea of tempo, rhythm, in the word "wrong side" - about the hidden, reverse side of something.
- 2) a sign of distraction. In the press of metaphorization, the word does a great deal of semantic work, as a result of which its meaning becomes generalized and thus less definite;
- 3) a sign of expressiveness. The sign of a metaphor is its evaluative quality. Based on the sign of the main and figurative meanings, comparing them, it turns out that the metaphor draws attention to some semantic feature contained in the main meaning;
- 4) syntactic feature. This feature is expressed in the syntactic conditions of metaphorization of the word, which are given by dictionaries and reference books;
- 5) morphological trait. It is a numerical characteristic of metaphor-nouns. Given in dictionaries or reference books. [Telia V.N., 1977: 36]
A metaphor is a statement about the properties of an object based on some similarity with the already indicated in the rethought meaning of the word. Here a hypothetical conjecture is possible and the subjective principle prevails in the view of the real. Therefore, the metaphor is so widely exploited in the qualifying and evaluative activity of consciousness. The metaphor technique is the main method of indirect nomination. This pattern is due to the fact that when forming indirect names in a rethought meaning, those signs that are significant in relation to the meaning and detonation of the reference name are updated. This creates the conditions for predication to objects of new features that are not their own, and thus for the abrupt development of a new meaning due to the interference of the properties of the object already indicated by the previous meaning and the fusion with it of the features attributed to the newly designated “from the outside” of the reference name. [Kubryakova E .S., 1978: 64]
In vocabulary, the main means of expression are trails(translated from Greek - turn, turn, image) - special figurative and expressive means of the language, based on the use of words in a figurative sense.
The main types of tropes include: epithet, comparison, metaphor, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, paraphrase (periphrase), hyperbole, litote, irony.
Special lexical figurative and expressive means of language (tropes)
Epithet(translated from Greek - application, addition) is a figurative definition that marks a feature that is essential for a given context in the depicted phenomenon.
From simple definition epithet is different artistic expressiveness and imagery. The epithet is based on a hidden comparison.
Epithets include all "colorful" definitions, which are most often expressed by adjectives.
For example: sadly orphaned Earth(F. I. Tyutchev), gray fog, lemon light, silent peace(I. A. Bunin).
Epithets can also be expressed:
- nouns , acting as applications or predicates, giving a figurative description of the subject.
For example: sorceress - winter; mother - cheese earth; The poet is a lyre, not just the nurse of his soul(M. Gorky);
- adverbs acting as circumstances.
For example: In the wild stands alone in the north ...(M. Yu. Lermontov); The leaves were stretched tensely in the wind(K. G. Paustovsky);
- gerunds .
For example: the waves rush roaring and sparkling;
- pronouns expressing the superlative degree of this or that state of the human soul.
For example: After all, there were fighting fights, Yes, they say, some more!(M. Yu. Lermontov);
- participles and participle turnovers .
For example: Nightingales with rumbling words announce the forest limits(B. L. Pasternak); I also admit the appearance of ... scribblers who cannot prove where they spent the night yesterday, and who have no other words in the language, except for words, not remembering kinship (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).
The creation of figurative epithets is usually associated with the use of words in a figurative sense.
From the point of view of the type of figurative meaning of the word, acting as an epithet, all epithets are divided into:
metaphorical (They are based on a metaphorical figurative meaning.
For example: golden cloud, bottomless sky, lilac fog, walking cloud and standing tree.
Metaphorical epithets- a striking sign of the author's style:
You are my cornflower blue word
I love you forever.
How does our cow live now,
Sadness straw pulling?
(S.A. Yesenin. “I haven’t seen such beautiful ones?”);
How greedily the world of the night soul
Heeds the story of his beloved!
(Tyutchev. “What are you howling about, night wind?”).
metonymic (They are based on a metonymic figurative meaning.
For example: suede gait(V. V. Nabokov); scratchy look(M. Gorky); birch cheerful language(S. A. Yesenin).
From a genetic point of view epithets are divided into:
- general language (deathly silence, lead waves),
- folk-poetic (permanent) ( red sun, violent wind, good fellow).
In poetic folklore, the epithet, which, together with the defined word, constitutes a stable phrase, performed, in addition to the content, mnemonic function (gr. mnemo nicon- the art of memory).
Constant epithets made it easier for the singer, the narrator to perform the work. Any folklore text is saturated with such, for the most part, "decorating" epithets.
« In folklore, - writes the literary critic V.P. Anikin, - the girl is always red, well done - kind, father - dear, kids - small, youngster - remote, body - white, hands - white, tears - combustible, voice - loud, bow - low, table - oak, wine - green, vodka - sweet, eagle - gray, flower - scarlet, stone - combustible, sands - loose, night - dark, forest - stagnant, mountains - steep, forests - dense, cloud - formidable , the winds are violent, the field is clean, the sun is red, the bow is tight, the tavern is the king, the saber is sharp, the wolf is gray, etc.»
Depending on the genre, the selection of epithets has changed somewhat. Recreation of style, or stylization of folklore genres, involves the widespread use of constant epithets. Yes, they abound A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilievich, a young guardsman and a daring merchant Kalashnikov» Lermontov: the sun is red, the clouds are blue, the golden crown, the formidable king, the daring fighter, the thought is strong, the thought is black, the heart is hot, the shoulders are heroic, the saber is sharp etc.
The epithet can incorporate the properties of many trails . Based on metaphor or at metonymy , it can also be combined with the personification ... foggy and quiet azure over sadly orphaned earth(F. I. Tyutchev), hyperbole (Autumn already knows what deep and mute peace is - A harbinger of a long bad weather(I. A. Bunin) and other paths and figures.
The role of epithets in the text
All epithets as bright, "illuminating" definitions are aimed at enhancing the expressiveness of the images of the depicted objects or phenomena, at highlighting their most essential features.
In addition, epithets can:
Strengthen, emphasize characteristics items.
For example: Wandering among the rocks, a yellow ray crept into the wild cave And illuminated the smooth skull...(M. Yu. Lermontov);
Refine features object (shape, color, size, quality):
For example: Forest, like a painted tower, Lilac, gold, crimson, Cheerful, motley wall Stands over a bright glade(I. A. Bunin);
Create word combinations that are contrasting in meaning and serve as the basis for creating an oxymoron: squalid luxury(L. N. Tolstoy), brilliant shadow(E. A. Baratynsky);
To convey the attitude of the author to the depicted, to express the author's assessment and the author's perception of the phenomenon: ... Dead words smell bad(N. S. Gumilyov); And we value the prophetic word, and we honor the Russian word, And we will not change the power of the word.(S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky); What does it mean smiling blessing heaven, this happy resting earth?(I. S. Turgenev)
Figurative epithets highlight the essential aspects of the depicted without introducing a direct assessment (“ in the blue fog of the sea», « in the dead sky" etc.).
In expressive (lyric) epithets , on the contrary, the relation to the depicted phenomenon is clearly expressed (“ flickering images of crazy people», « tedious night story»).
It should be borne in mind that this division is rather arbitrary, since pictorial epithets also have an emotional and evaluative meaning.
Epithets are widely used in artistic and journalistic, as well as in colloquial and popular science styles of speech.
Comparison- This is a visual technique based on the comparison of one phenomenon or concept with another.
Unlike metaphor comparison is always binomial : it names both compared objects (phenomena, signs, actions).
For example: Villages are burning, they have no protection. The sons of the fatherland are defeated by the enemy, And the glow, like an eternal meteor, Playing in the clouds, frightens the eye.(M. Yu. Lermontov)
Comparisons are expressed in various ways:
Form of the instrumental case of nouns.
For example: Nightingale stray Youth flew by, Wave in bad weather Joy subsided.(A. V. Koltsov) The moon slides like a pancake in sour cream.(B. Pasternak) Leaves flew like stars.(D. Samoilov) Flying rain sparkles golden in the sun.(V. Nabokov) Icicles hang like glass fringes.(I. Shmelev) A patterned clean towel A rainbow hangs from the birches.(N. Rubtsov)
The form of the comparative degree of an adjective or adverb.
For example: These eyes are greener than the sea and darker than our cypresses.(A. Akhmatova) Girl's eyes are brighter than roses.(A. S. Pushkin) But the eyes are blue of the day.(S. Yesenin) Bushes of mountain ash are more foggy than depth.(S. Yesenin) Freer youth.(A. S. Pushkin) The truth is more valuable than gold.(Proverb) Lighter than the sun is the throne room. M. Tsvetaeva)
Comparative turnovers with unions like, like, like, like and etc.
For example: Like a predatory animal, into a humble abode The winner bursts with bayonets ...(M. Yu. Lermontov) April looks at a bird's flight With eyes as blue as ice.(D. Samoilov) Here every village is so loving, As if in it the beauty of the whole universe. (A. Yashin) And stand behind the oak nets Like the evil spirits of the forest, stumps.(S. Yesenin) Like a bird in a cage, The heart jumps.(M. Yu. Lermontov) my verses, like precious wines, It will be your turn.(M. I. Tsvetaeva) It's close to noon. The fire is burning. Like a plowman, the battle rests. (A. S. Pushkin) The past, like the bottom of the sea, Spreads like a pattern in the distance.(V. Bryusov)
Beyond the river in restlessness
cherry blossomed,
Like snow across the river
Filled the stitch.
Like light blizzards
Rushed with all their might
Like swans were flying
Dropped fluff.(A. Prokofiev)
With the help of words similar, like this.
For example: Your eyes look like the eyes of a cautious cat(A. Akhmatova);
With the help of comparative clauses.
For example: Golden foliage swirled in pinkish water on the pond, Like butterflies, a light flock With fading flies to the star. (S. A. Yesenin) The rain sows, sows, sows, It has been drizzling since midnight, Like a muslin curtain Hanging behind the windows. (V. Tushnova) Heavy snow, spinning, covered the Sunless heights, As if hundreds of white wings flew silently. (V. Tushnova) Like a tree shedding its leaves So I drop sad words.(S. Yesenin) How the king loved rich palaces So I fell in love with the ancient roads And the blue eyes of eternity!(N. Rubtsov)
Comparisons can be direct andnegative
Negative comparisons are especially typical for oral folk poetry and can serve as a way to stylize the text.
For example: It's not a horse top, not human talk... (A. S. Pushkin)
A special type of comparison is represented by expanded comparisons, with the help of which entire texts can be built.
For example, the poem by F. I. Tyutchev " Like hot ashes...»:
Like hot ashes
The scroll smokes and burns
And the fire is hidden and deaf
Words and lines devour -
So sadly my life is smoldering
And every day the smoke goes away
So gradually I go out
In unbearable monotony! ..
Oh Heaven, if only once
This flame developed at will -
And, without languishing, without tormenting the share,
I would shine - and went out!
The role of comparisons in the text
Comparisons, like epithets, are used in the text in order to enhance its figurativeness and figurativeness, create more vivid, expressive images and highlight, emphasize any significant features of the depicted objects or phenomena, as well as to express the author's assessments and emotions.
For example:
I like it my friend
When the word melts
And when it sings
Heat pours over the line,
So that words blush from words,
So that they, going in flight,
Curled, fought to sing,
To eat like honey.
(A. A. Prokofiev);
In every soul it seems to live, burn, glow, like a star in the sky and, like a star, it goes out when it's finished life path, flies from our lips ... It happens that an extinguished star for us, people on earth, burns for another thousand years. (M. M. Prishvin)
Comparisons as a means of linguistic expressiveness can be used not only in literary texts, but also in journalistic, colloquial, scientific ones.
Metaphor(translated from Greek - transfer) is a word or expression that is used in a figurative sense based on the similarity of two objects or phenomena on some basis. It is sometimes said that a metaphor is a hidden comparison.
For example, a metaphor Red rowan bonfire burns in the garden (S. Yesenin) contains a comparison of rowan brushes with a fire flame.
Many metaphors have become commonplace in everyday use and therefore do not attract attention, have lost imagery in our perception.
For example: bank burst, dollar circulation, dizzy and etc.
In contrast to comparison, in which both what is being compared and what is being compared is given, a metaphor contains only the second, which creates compactness and figurativeness of the use of the word.
The metaphor can be based on the similarity of objects in shape, color, volume, purpose, sensations, etc.
For example: a waterfall of stars, an avalanche of letters, a wall of fire, an abyss of grief, a pearl of poetry, a spark of love and etc.
All metaphors are divided into two groups:
1) general language ("erased")
For example: golden hands, a storm in a teacup, move mountains, strings of the soul, love faded ;
2) artistic (individual-author's, poetic)
For example: And the stars fade diamond thrill in the painless cold of dawn (M. Voloshin); Empty skies clear glass(A. Akhmatova); And blue eyes, bottomless bloom on the far shore. (A. A. Blok)
Metaphors of Sergei Yesenin: bonfire of red mountain ash, birch cheerful tongue of the grove, chintz of the sky;
or September's bloody tears, overgrowth of raindrops, lantern buns and roof tops
at Boris Pasternak
The metaphor is paraphrased into a comparison using auxiliary words. like, like, like, like etc.
There are several types of metaphor: erased, expanded, realized.
Erased - a common metaphor, the figurative meaning of which is no longer felt.
For example: chair leg, headboard, sheet of paper, clock hand etc.
A whole work or a large excerpt from it can be built on a metaphor. Such a metaphor is called "unfolded", in which the image "unfolds", that is, it is revealed in detail.
So, the poem by A.S. Pushkin “ Prophet"is an example of an extended metaphor. The transformation of the lyrical hero into the herald of the will of the Lord - the poet-prophet, his quenching " spiritual thirst", that is, the desire to know the meaning of being and find one's vocation, is depicted by the poet gradually: " six-winged seraph", the messenger of God, transformed the hero of his" right hand» - right hand, which was an allegory of strength and power. By God's power, the lyrical hero received a different vision, a different hearing, other mental and spiritual abilities. He could " heed”, that is, to comprehend the sublime, heavenly values \u200b\u200band earthly, material existence, to feel the beauty of the world and its suffering. Pushkin depicts this beautiful and painful process, “ stringing"one metaphor to another: the hero's eyes acquire eagle vigilance, his ears fill" noise and ringing"of life, the language ceases to be "idle and crafty", passing on the wisdom received as a gift, " quivering heart" turns into " coal burning with fire". The chain of metaphors is held together by the general idea of the work: the poet, as Pushkin wanted to see him, should be a forerunner of the future and an exposer of human vices, inspire people with his word, encourage goodness and truth.
Examples of an extended metaphor are often found in poetry and prose (the main part of the metaphor is marked in italics, its “deployment” is underlined):
... let's say goodbye together,
O my light youth!
Thanks for the pleasure
For sadness, for sweet torment,
For noise, for storms, for feasts,
For everything, for all your gifts...
A.S. Pushkin " Eugene Onegin"
We drink from the cup of life
With closed eyes...
Lermontov "Cup of Life"
…boy caught by love
To a girl wrapped in silks...
N. Gumilyov " Eagle of Sinbad"
The golden grove dissuaded
Birch cheerful language.
S. Yesenin " The golden grove dissuaded…"
Sad, and crying, and laughing,
The streams of my poems are ringing
At your feet
And every verse
Runs, weaves a living ligature,
Their not knowing the shores.
A. Blok " Sad, and crying, and laughing..."
Save my speech forever for the taste of misfortune and smoke ...
O. Mandelstam " Save my speech forever…"
... seethed, washing away the kings,
July Curve Street...
O. Mandelstam " I pray like pity and mercy..."
Here the wind embraces a flock of waves with a strong embrace and throws them on a grand scale in wild anger on the rocks, breaking the emerald bulks into dust and spray.
M. Gorky " Song of the Petrel"
The sea has woken up. It played in small waves, giving birth to them, decorating with fringed foam, pushing against each other and breaking them into fine dust.
M. Gorky " Chelkash"
Realized - metaphor , which again acquires a direct meaning. The result of this process at the everyday level is often comical:
For example: I lost my temper and got on the bus
The exam will not take place: all tickets are sold.
If you've gone into yourself, don't come back empty-handed etc.
The simple-hearted joker-gravedigger in the tragedy of W. Shakespeare " Hamlet”to the question of the protagonist about,“ on what ground"lost his mind" the young prince, replies: " In our Danish". He understands the word the soil"literally - the top layer of the earth, the territory, while Hamlet means figuratively - for what reason, as a result of which.
« Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh's hat! "- the tsar complains in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin" Boris Godunov". The crown of Russian tsars since the time of Vladimir Monomakh has been in the form of a hat. It was adorned with precious stones, so it was "heavy" in the literal sense of the word. In a figurative way - Monomakh's hat» personified « heaviness", responsibility royal power, the heavy duties of the autocrat.
In the novel by A.S. Pushkin " Eugene Onegin» important role plays the image of the Muse, which since ancient times personified the source of poetic inspiration. The expression "the muse visited the poet" has a figurative meaning. But Muse - the poet's friend and inspirer - appears in the novel in the form of a living woman, young, beautiful, cheerful. AT " student cell» Precisely Muse « opened a feast of young inventions- pranks and serious disputes about life. It is she who " sang"Everything that the young poet aspired to - earthly passions and desires: friendship, a cheerful feast, thoughtless joy -" children's fun". Muse, " how the bacchante frolicked", and the poet was proud of his" windy girlfriend».
During the southern exile, Muse appeared as a romantic heroine - a victim of her pernicious passions, resolute, capable of reckless rebellion. Her image helped the poet create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery in his poems:
How often l asce Muse
I delighted the dumb way
By the magic of a secret story!..
At the turning point of the author's creative quest, it was she who
She appeared as a county lady,
With sad thoughts in my eyes...
Throughout the entire work affectionate Muse"was correct" girlfriend» poet.
The realization of a metaphor is often found in the poetry of V. Mayakovsky. So, in the poem A cloud in pants" it implements the running expression " nerves went wild" or " nerves are naughty»:
Hear:
quiet,
like a sick person out of bed
nerve jumped.
here, -
first walked
barely,
then he ran
excited,
clear.
Now he and the new two
rushing about in a desperate tap dance ...
Nerves -
big,
small,
many -
jumping mad,
and already
the nerves give way to the legs!
It should be remembered that the boundary between various types metaphors are very conditional, unsteady, and it can be difficult to accurately determine the type.
The role of metaphors in the text
Metaphor is one of the brightest and most powerful means of creating expressiveness and figurativeness of the text.
Through the metaphorical meaning of words and phrases, the author of the text not only enhances the visibility and visibility of what is depicted, but also conveys the uniqueness, individuality of objects or phenomena, while showing the depth and nature of his own associative-figurative thinking, vision of the world, the measure of talent (“The most important thing is to be skillful in metaphors. Only this cannot be adopted from another - this is a sign of talent "(Aristotle).
Metaphors serve as an important means of expressing the author's assessments and emotions, the author's characteristics of objects and phenomena.
For example: I feel stuffy in this atmosphere! Kites! Owl nest! Crocodiles!(A.P. Chekhov)
In addition to artistic and journalistic styles, metaphors are characteristic of colloquial and even scientific style (" the ozone hole », « electron cloud " and etc.).
personification- this is a kind of metaphor based on the transfer of signs of a living being to natural phenomena, objects and concepts.
Often personifications are used in describing nature.
For example:
Rolling through sleepy valleys
Sleepy mists lay down,
And only the stomp of a horse,
Sounding, is lost in the distance.
Extinguished, turning pale, the day autumn,
Rolling fragrant leaves,
Eating dreamless sleep
Semi-withered flowers.
(M. Yu. Lermontov)
Less often, personifications are associated with the objective world.
For example:
Isn't it true, never again
We won't break up? Enough?..
And the violin answered Yes,
But the heart of the violin was in pain.
The bow understood everything, it calmed down,
And in the violin, the echo kept everything ...
And it was a pain for them
What people thought was music.
(I. F. Annensky);
There was something good-natured and at the same time cozy in face of this house. (D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak)
Avatars- the paths are very old, with their roots in pagan antiquity and therefore occupy such an important place in mythology and folklore. The Fox and the Wolf, the Hare and the Bear, the epic Serpent Gorynych and the Poganoe Idolishche - all these and other fantastic and zoological characters of fairy tales and epics are familiar to us from early childhood.
One of the literary genres closest to folklore, the fable, is based on personification.
Without personification, even today it is unthinkable to imagine works of art without them, our everyday speech is unthinkable.
Figurative speech not only visually represents thought. Its advantage is that it is shorter. Instead of describing the subject in detail, we can compare it with an already known subject.
It is impossible to imagine poetic speech without using this technique:
"The storm covers the sky with mist
Whirlwinds of snow twisting,
Like a beast, she will howl,
He will cry like a child."(A.S. Pushkin)
The role of personifications in the text
Personifications serve to create vivid, expressive and figurative pictures of something, to enhance the transmitted thoughts and feelings.
Personification as an expressive means is used not only in the artistic style, but also in journalistic and scientific.
For example: X-ray shows, the device speaks, the air heals, something stirred in the economy.
The most common metaphors are formed on the principle of personification, when an inanimate object acquires the properties of an animate one, as if acquiring a face.
1. Usually, the two components of a metaphor-personification are the subject and the predicate: the blizzard was angry», « the golden cloud spent the night», « waves are playing».
« get angry", that is, only a person can experience irritation, but" winter storm", a blizzard, plunging the world into cold and darkness, also brings" evil". « spend the night", sleep peacefully at night, only living beings are capable," cloud"But personifies a young woman who has found an unexpected shelter. Marine « waves"in the imagination of the poet" play', like children.
We often find examples of metaphors of this type in the poetry of A.S. Pushkin:
Not suddenly raptures will leave us ...
A death dream flies over him ...
My days are gone...
The spirit of life woke up in him...
Fatherland caressed you ...
Poetry awakens in me...
2. Many metaphors-personifications are built according to the method of management: “ lyre singing», « the voice of the waves», « fashion darling», « happiness darling" and etc.
A musical instrument is like a human voice, and it too " sings”, and the splashing of the waves resembles a quiet conversation. " favorite», « minion"are not only in people, but also in the wayward" fashion"or changeable" happiness».
For example: "Winters of threat", "Abyss voice", "joy of sadness", "day of despondency", "son of laziness", "threads ... of fun", "brother by muse, by fate", "victim of slander", "cathedral wax faces ”, “Joy language”, “mourn the burden”, “hope of young days”, “pages of malice and vice”, “shrine voice”, “by the will of passions”.
But there are metaphors formed differently. The criterion of difference here is the principle of animation and inanimateness. An inanimate object does NOT gain the properties of an animate object.
one). Subject and predicate: “ Desire is seething”, “Eyes are burning”, “Heart is empty”.
Desire in a person can manifest itself to a strong degree, seethe and " boil". Eyes, betraying excitement, shine and " are burning". Heart, soul, not warmed by feeling, can become " empty».
For example: “I learned grief early, I was comprehended by persecution”, “our youth will not suddenly fade”, “noon ... burned”, “the moon floats”, “conversations flow”, “stories spread out”, “love ... faded away”, “I call the shadow "," life fell.
2). Phrases built according to the method of management can also, being metaphors, NOT be personification: “ dagger of treachery», « glory tomb», « chain of clouds" and etc.
Steel arms - " dagger" - kills a person, but " treason"is like a dagger and can also destroy, break life. " Tomb"- this is a crypt, a grave, but not only people can be buried, but also glory, worldly love. " Chain" consists of metal links, but " clouds”, whimsically intertwining, form a semblance of a chain in the sky.
For example: “flattering necklaces”, “twilight of freedom”, “forest ... voices”, “clouds of arrows”, “noise of poetry”, “bell of brotherhood”, “poems incandescence”, “fire ... black eyes”, “salt of solemn insults”, “ the science of parting”, “the flame of southern blood” .
Many metaphors of this kind are formed according to the principle of reification, when the word being defined receives the properties of some substance, material: "windows crystal", "gold hair" .
On a sunny day, the window seems to sparkle like " crystal", and the hair takes on the color" gold". Here, the hidden comparison embedded in the metaphor is especially noticeable.
For example: "in the black velvet of the Soviet night, In the velvet of the world's emptiness", "poems ... grape meat", "crystal of high notes", "poems with rattling pearls".
from the Greek metaphora - transfer, image) - the use of a word in a figurative sense based on the similarity in any respect of two objects or phenomena; replacing the usual expression with a figurative one (for example, golden autumn, the sound of waves, an airplane wing).
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
METAPHOR
from the Greek metaphora - transfer) - a trope (see tropes) of a word, which consists in transferring the properties of one object, process or phenomenon to another on the basis of their similarity in some respect or in contrast. Aristotle in "Poetics" noted that M. is "an unusual name transferred from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or by analogy." Of the four genera of M., Aristotle wrote, in the Rhetoric M., based on analogy, deserve the most attention, for example: “Pericles spoke of the youth who died in the war as the destruction of spring among the seasons.” Aristotle considers action to be especially strong, that is, one where the analogy is based on the representation of the inanimate by the animate, depicting everything moving and living. And Aristotle considers Homer as a model for the use of such M.: “The bitter sting of an arrow ... bounced back from copper. A sharp arrow rushed into the midst of enemies, to the intended greedy sacrifice ”(Iliad). And here is how, with the help of M., the actions of B.L. Pasternak creates the image of a cloud: “When a huge purple cloud, standing on the edge of the road, silenced the grasshoppers, sultry crackling in the grass, and in the camps sighed and drums trembled, the earth’s eyes darkened and there was no life in the world ... The cloud looked over look at the low baked stubble. They crept up to the horizon. The cloud easily reared up. They extended further, beyond the very camps. The cloud landed on its front legs and, smoothly crossing the road, silently crawled along the fourth rail of the siding ”(Airways). When creating M., according to Quintilian (compendium "Twelve Books of Rhetorical Instructions"), the following four cases will be the most typical: 1) replacement (transfer of property) of one animate object by another animate Greeks and Romans considered only humans to be animate). For example: “There were horses - not horses, tigers” (E. Zamyatin. Russia); the walrus "...rolls up again onto the platform, on its fat powerful body Nietzsche's mustachioed, bristly head with a smooth forehead is shown" (V. Khlebnikov. Menagerie); 2) one inanimate object is replaced (property transfer occurs) by another inanimate object. For example: “A river swirls in the desert fog” (A. Pushkin. Window); “Above him is a golden ray of the sun” (M. Lermontov. Sail); “A rusty leaf fell from the trees” (F. Tyutchev. N.I. Krol); "The boiling sea below us" (song "Varangian"); 3) replacement (transfer of property) of an inanimate object by an animate one. For example: “The word is the greatest master: it looks small and imperceptible, but it does wonderful things - it can stop fear and turn away sadness, cause joy, increase pity” (Gorgias. Praise to Elena); “The night is quiet, the desert listens to God, and the star speaks to the star” (M. Lermontov. I go out alone on the road ...); “The rusty bolt will burst into tears at the gate” (A. Bely. Jester); “Light Kolomna, hugging her sister Ryazan, wets her bare feet in the weeping Oka” (N. Klyuev. Ruin); “Linden trees were chilled to the bone” (N. Klyuev. Linden trees were chilled to the bone ...); 4) replacement (transfer of properties) of an animate object by an inanimate one. For example: “Strong heart” (i.e. mean, cruel) - the officer says about the usurer Sanjuelo (R. Lesage. The Adventures of Gil Blas from Santillana); “Sophists are poisonous shoots that have stuck to healthy plants, hemlock in a virgin forest” (V. Hugo. Les Misérables); “The Sophists are magnificent, magnificent flowers of the rich Greek spirit” (A. Herzen. Letters on the study of nature). Aristotle in "Rhetoric" emphasized that M. "in high degree has clarity, pleasantness and a sign of novelty. It was M., he believed, along with the commonly used words mother tongue, are the only material useful for the style of prose speech. M. is very close to comparison, but there is also a difference between them. M. is a trope of rhetoric, the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another according to the principle of their similarity in some respect, and comparison is a logical device similar to the definition of a concept, a figurative expression in which the depicted phenomenon is likened to another. Usually comparison is expressed using words like, like, as if. M., in contrast to the comparison, has a greater expression. The means of the language make it possible to separate comparison and M. quite strictly. This is done in Aristotle's Rhetoric. Here are the comparisons of I. Annensky in “The Shamrock of Temptation”: “A merry day burns ... Among the sagging herbs, all the poppies are stained - like greedy impotence, like lips full of temptation and poison, like scarlet butterflies unfolded wings.” They are easy to turn into a metaphor: Poppies are scarlet butterflies with spread wings. Demetrius in his work "On Style" considered another aspect of the relationship between M. and comparison. If M., he wrote, seems too dangerous, then it is easy to turn it into a comparison, inserting, as it were, and then the impression of riskiness inherent in M. will weaken. In the treatises of rhetoricians, in the works of experts in the field of poetics and stylistics, most attention is paid to M. himself. Quintilian called it the most common and most beautiful of the tropes of rhetoric. She is, considered the Roman rhetorician, something innate, and even in complete ignoramuses it often breaks out the most naturally . But it is much more pleasant and beautiful when M. is tastefully found and shines with its own light in high speech. It multiplies the richness of the language by changing or borrowing everything that is lacking in it. M. is used in order to strike the mind, to designate the subject more strongly and present it, as it were, before the eyes of the audience. Of course, its role cannot be exaggerated. Quintilian noted that an excess of M. bothers the listener's attention, turns speech into an allegory and a riddle. You should not use low and indecent M., as well as M., based on a false likeness. Aristotle saw one of the reasons for the loftiness, coldness of the speaker's speech in the use of inappropriate M. He believed that three types of M. should not be used: 1) having a funny meaning; 2) the meaning of which is too solemn and tragic; 3) borrowed from afar, and therefore having an unclear meaning or a poetic look. The subject of constant discussions, starting from antiquity, was the question of how many M. can be used simultaneously. Already the Greek theoreticians of rhetoric accepted as a "law" the simultaneous use of two, maximum three M. Having agreed, in principle, with this provision, Pseudo-Longin in the treatise "On the Sublime" nevertheless believes that the justification for the large number and courage of M. is “appropriate passion of speech and its noble sublimity. It is natural for the growing tide of stormy feeling to carry everything along and carry it with it. It was these properties of M. that M.V. superbly demonstrated. Lomonosov: “The master of many languages, the Russian language, not only by the vastness of the places where it dominates, but also by its own space and contentment is great before everyone in Europe ... Charles the Fifth ... if he were skilled in the Russian language, then. .. I would find in it the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the strength of German, the tenderness of Italian, moreover, the richness and brevity of the Greek and Latin language, strong in images ”(M. Lomonosov. Russian Grammar). Description of boron by E.I. Zamyatin is given through the use of numerous M.: “... Blue winter days, the rustle of snow chunks - from top to bottom, a vigorous frosty crack, a woodpecker hammers; yellow summer days, wax candles in clumsy green hands, transparent honey tears down hardened strong trunks, cuckoos are counting the years. But clouds swelled in the stuffiness, the sky split into a crimson crack, dripped with fire - and the age-old forest lit up, and by morning red tongues were buzzing all around, a thorn, whistle, crackle, howl, half the sky in smoke, the sun in the blood was barely visible ”(E. Zamyatin. Russia). Assessing the role of M. in fiction paid much attention to B.L. Pasternak: “Art is realistic as an activity and symbolic as a fact. It is realistic in that it did not invent M. itself, but found it in nature and faithfully reproduced it ”(B. Pasternak. Safeguarding). “Metaphorism is a natural consequence of the fragility of man and the long-term conceived immensity of his tasks. With this discrepancy, he is forced to look at things in an eagle's vigilant manner and explain himself with instantaneous and immediately understandable insights. This is poetry. Metaphorism is a stenography of a great personality, cursiveness of its spirit” (B. Pasternak. Notes on translations from Shakespeare). M. is the most common and most expressive of all tropes. Lit .: Antique theories of language and style. - M.; L., 1936. - S. 215-220; Aristotle. Poetics // Aristotle. Op.: In 4 vols. - M., 1984. - T. 4. - S. 669-672; Aristotle. Rhetoric // Ancient rhetoric. - M., 1978. - S. 130-135, 145-148; Arutyunova N.D. Metaphor//Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 1990; Demetrius. About style // Antique rhetoric. - M., 1978; Jolls K.K. Thought. Word. Metaphor. - Kyiv, 1984; Quintilian. Twelve books of rhetorical instructions. In 2 parts. - St. Petersburg, 1834; Korolkov V.I. On extra-linguistic and intra-linguistic aspects of the study of metaphor // Uch. app. MSPIIA. - M., 1971. - Issue. 58; Lomonosov M.V. A Brief Guide to Eloquence: Book One, which contains rhetoric showing general rules of both eloquence, that is, oratorios and poetry, composed for the benefit of those who love verbal sciences // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - S. 147-148; Lvov M.R. Rhetoric: Tutorial for students in grades 10-11 - M., 1995; Panov M.I. Rhetoric from antiquity to the present day // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - S. 31-32; Freidenberg O.M. Metaphor // Freidenberg O.M. Myth and literature of antiquity. - M., 1978; encyclopedic Dictionary young literary critic: For Wednesdays, and older. school age / Comp. IN AND. Novikov. - M., 1988. - S. 167-169. M.I. Panov