What are metaphors in literature. Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

In vocabulary, the main means of expressiveness are trails(translated from Greek - turn, turn, image) - special figurative and expressive means of language, based on the use of words in a figurative meaning.

The main types of tropes include: epithet, comparison, metaphor, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, periphrasis (periphrase), hyperbole, litotes, irony.

Special lexical figurative and expressive means of language (tropes)

Epithet(translated from Greek - application, addition) is a figurative definition that marks an essential feature for a given context in the depicted phenomenon.

The epithet differs from a simple definition in its 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: sad and 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 characteristic of the subject.

For example: sorceress - winter; mother is the damp earth; The poet is a lyre, and not just the nanny of his soul(M. Gorky);

- adverbs , acting as circumstances.

For example: In the wild north it stands alone....(M. Yu. Lermontov); The leaves were tensely stretched in the wind(K. G. Paustovsky);

- participles .

For example: the waves rush thundering and sparkling;

- pronouns , expressing the superlative degree of a particular state of the human soul.

For example: After all, there were fighting fights, Yes, they say, some more!(M. Yu. Lermontov);

- participles And participial phrases .

For example: Nightingales announce the forest limits with their thundering words(B. L. Pasternak); I also admit the appearance of... greyhound writers who cannot prove where they spent the night yesterday, and who have no other words in their language except the words not remembering kinship (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

The creation of figurative epithets is usually associated with the use of words in a figurative meaning.

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: a golden cloud, a bottomless sky, a lilac fog, a walking cloud and a 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?
Are you tugging at straw sadness?
(S.A. Yesenin. “I haven’t seen such beautiful ones?”);

How greedily the world of the soul is at night
Hears the story of his beloved!
(Tyutchev. “What are you howling about, night wind?”).

metonymic (they are based on metonymic figurative meaning.

For example: suede gait(V.V. Nabokov); scratchy look(M. Gorky); birch cheerful tongue(S. A. Yesenin).

From a genetic point of view epithets are divided into:

- general language (deathly silence, leaden waves),

- folk-poetic (permanent) ( red sun, wild wind, good fellow).

In poetic folklore, an epithet, which together with the word it defines, constitutes a stable phrase, served, in addition to its content, mnemonic function (gr. mnemo nicon- the art of memorization).

Constant epithets made it easier for the singer and narrator to perform the work. Any folklore text is full of such, mostly “decorating”, epithets.

« In folklore, writes literary critic V.P. Anikin, the girl is always beautiful, the fellow is kind, the father is dear, the kids are small, the fellow is daring, the body is white, the hands are white, the tears are flammable, the voice is loud, bow - low, table - oak, wine - green, vodka - sweet, eagle - gray, flower - scarlet, stone - flammable, sand - loose, night - dark, forest - stagnant, mountains - steep, forests - dense, cloud - menacing , the winds are violent, the field is clean, the sun is red, the bow is tight, the tavern is Tsarev, the saber is sharp, the wolf is gray, etc.»

Depending on the genre, the selection of epithets varied somewhat. Recreation of style, or stylization of folk genres, involves the widespread use of constant epithets. So, they abound " A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov» Lermontov: red sun, blue clouds, golden crown, formidable king, daring fighter, strong thought, black thought, hot heart, heroic shoulders, sharp saber etc.

An epithet can incorporate the properties of many tropes . Based on metaphor or at metonymy , it can also be combined with personification... misty and quiet azure above sad and orphaned earth(F.I. Tyutchev), hyperbole (Autumn already knows that such a deep and silent peace is a harbinger of 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 depicted objects or phenomena, at highlighting their most significant features.

In addition, epithets can:

Strengthen, emphasize any characteristic features of objects.

For example: Wandering between the rocks, a yellow ray crept into the wild cave and illuminated the smooth skull...(M. Yu. Lermontov);

Clarify the distinctive features of an object (shape, color, size, quality):.

For example: The forest, like a painted tower, Lilac, golden, crimson, A cheerful, motley wall Stands above a bright clearing(I. A. Bunin);

Create combinations of words that are contrasting in meaning and serve as the basis for creating an oxymoron: wretched luxury(L.N. Tolstoy), brilliant shadow(E. A. Baratynsky);

Convey the author’s attitude towards the depicted, express the author’s assessment and 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 this smiling mean? blessing heaven, this happy, resting earth?(I. S. Turgenev)

Figurative epithets highlight the essential aspects of what is depicted without introducing a direct assessment (“ in the blue sea fog», « in the dead sky" and so on.).

In expressive (lyrical) epithets , on the contrary, the attitude towards the depicted phenomenon is clearly expressed (“ images of crazy people flash», « a languid night story»).

It should be borne in mind that this division is quite arbitrary, since figurative epithets also have an emotional and evaluative meaning.

Epithets are widely used in artistic and journalistic, as well as colloquial and popular scientific styles of speech.

Comparison 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: The 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: Youth flew by like a flying nightingale, Joy faded away like a wave in bad weather.(A.V. Koltsov) The moon slides like a pancake in sour cream.(B. Pasternak) Leaves flew like stars.(D. Samoilov) The flying rain sparkles golden in the sun.(V. Nabokov) Icicles hang like glass fringes.(I. Shmelev) A rainbow hangs from a birch tree with a patterned clean towel.(N. Rubtsov)

The comparative form of an adjective or adverb.

For example: These eyes are greener than the sea and our cypress trees are darker.(A. Akhmatova) A girl's eyes are brighter than roses.(A.S. Pushkin) But the eyes are bluer than the day.(S. Yesenin) Rowan bushes are more misty than the depths.(S. Yesenin) Youth is more free.(A.S. Pushkin) Truth is more valuable than gold.(Proverb) The throne room is brighter than the sun. M. Tsvetaeva)

Comparative turnover with unions as if, as if, as if and etc.

For example: Like a predatory beast, the winner bursts into the humble monastery with bayonets...(M. Yu. Lermontov) April looks at the birds' flight with eyes as blue as ice.(D. Samoilov) Every village here is so loving, As if it contains the beauty of the whole universe. (A. Yashin) And they stand behind oak nets Like forest evil spirits, hemp.(S. Yesenin) Like a bird in a cage, My heart leaps.(M. Yu. Lermontov) To my poems like precious wines, Your turn will come.(M. I. Tsvetaeva) It's almost noon. The heat is blazing. Like a plowman, the battle rests. (A.S. Pushkin) The past, like the bottom of the sea, spreads like a pattern into the distance.(V. Bryusov)

Beyond the river in peace
The cherry blossomed
Like snow across the river
The stitch was flooded.
Like light snowstorms
They rushed at full speed,
It was as if swans were flying,
They dropped the fluff.(A. Prokofiev)

With words similar, similar, this.

For example: Your eyes are like the eyes of a cautious cat(A. Akhmatova);

Using comparative clauses.

For example: Golden leaves swirled in the pinkish water of the pond, Like a light flock of butterflies, it flies breathlessly towards a star. (S. A. Yesenin) The rain sows, sows, sows, It has been drizzling since midnight, Hanging like a muslin curtain outside the windows. (V. Tushnova) Heavy snow, spinning, covered the Sunless Heights, It was as if hundreds of white wings flew silently. (V. Tushnova) Like a tree silently 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 characteristic of oral folk poetry and can serve as a way of stylizing the text.

For example: This is not a horse's top, Not human rumor... (A.S. Pushkin)

A special type of comparison is represented by detailed comparisons, with the help of which entire texts can be constructed.

For example, the poem by F. I. Tyutchev “ Like over hot ashes...»:
Like over hot ashes
The scroll smokes and burns
And the fire is hidden and dull
Devours words and lines -

My life is dying so sadly
And every day it goes up in smoke,
So I gradually fade away
In unbearable monotony!..

Oh Heaven, if only once
This flame developed at will -
And, without languishing, without suffering any longer,
I would shine - and go out!

The role of comparisons in text

Comparisons, like epithets, are used in the text in order to enhance its figurativeness and imagery, create more vivid, expressive images and highlighting, emphasizing any significant features of the depicted objects or phenomena, as well as for the purpose of expressing the author’s assessments and emotions.

For example:
I like it, my friend,
When the word melts
And when it sings
The line is covered in heat,
So that words glow from words,
So that when they take flight,
They twisted and fought to sing,
To be eaten 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, having completed its journey in life, 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, and scientific ones.

Metaphor(translated from Greek - transfer) is a word or expression that is used in a figurative meaning based on the similarity of two objects or phenomena for some reason. Sometimes they say that a metaphor is a hidden comparison.

For example, metaphor A red rowan fire is burning in the garden (S. Yesenin) contains a comparison of rowan brushes with the flame of a fire.

Many metaphors have become commonplace in everyday use and therefore do not attract attention and have lost their imagery in our perception.

For example: the bank has burst, the dollar is walking, my head is spinning and etc.

Unlike a comparison, which contains both what is being compared and what is being compared with, a metaphor contains only the second, which creates compactness and figurativeness in the use of the word.

A 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, storm in a teacup, moving mountains, heartstrings, 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 transparent glass(A. Akhmatova); AND blue, bottomless eyes bloom on the far shore. (A. A. Blok)

Metaphors of Sergei Yesenin: fire of red rowan, cheerful birch tongue of the grove, chintz of the sky; or bloody tears of September, overgrown raindrops, lantern buns and roof donuts at Boris Pasternak's
Metaphor is paraphrased into comparison using auxiliary words as if, like, like, as if and so on.

There are several types of metaphor: erased, expanded, realized.

Erased - a generally accepted metaphor, the figurative meaning of which is no longer felt.

For example: chair leg, headboard, sheet of paper, clock hand and so on.

A whole work or a large excerpt from it can be built on a metaphor. Such a metaphor is called “expanded”, in it the image is “expanded”, that is, revealed in detail.

Thus, the poem by A.S. Pushkin “ Prophet" is an example of an extended metaphor. Transformation of the lyrical hero into a herald of the will of the Lord - a poet-prophet, satisfying him " spiritual thirst“, that is, the desire to know the meaning of existence and find one’s calling, is depicted by the poet gradually: “ six-winged seraph", the messenger of God, transformed the hero with his " right hand" - the right hand, which was an allegory of strength and power. By God's power, the lyrical hero received different vision, different hearing, different mental and spiritual abilities. He could " heed“, that is, to comprehend sublime, heavenly values ​​and 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 are filled with" noise and ringing"of life, the tongue ceases to be "idle and crafty", conveying the wisdom received as a gift, " trembling 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 him to be, must be a herald of the future and an exposer of human vices, inspiring people with his words, encouraging them to goodness and truth.

Examples of expanded metaphor are often found in poetry and prose (the main part of the metaphor is indicated in italics, its “development” is emphasized):
... let's say goodbye together,
Oh my easy youth!
Thank you for the pleasures
For sadness, for sweet torment,
For the noise, for the storms, for the feasts,
For everything, for all your gifts...
A.S. Pushkin " Eugene Onegin"

We drink from the cup of existence
With eyes closed...
Lermontov "The Cup of Life"

... a boy caught in love
To a girl shrouded in silks...
N. Gumilev " 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 ring
At your feet
And every verse
Runs, weaves a living thread,
Not knowing our own 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 kings,
July curve street...
O. Mandelstam " I pray for pity and mercy..."

Now the wind embraces flocks of waves in a strong embrace and throws them with wild anger onto the cliffs, smashing the emerald masses into dust and splashes.
M. Gorky " Song about the Petrel"

The sea has woken up. It played with small waves, giving birth to them, decorating them with a fringe of foam, pushing them against each other and breaking them into fine dust.
M. Gorky " Chelkash"

Realized - metaphor , which again takes on 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 have been sold.

If you go into yourself, don't come back empty-handed and so on.

The simple-minded joker-gravedigger in William Shakespeare's tragedy " Hamlet" to the main character's question about " on what basis"The young prince has lost his mind, replies: " In our Danish" He understands the word " the soil"literally - the top layer of the earth, territory, while Hamlet means figuratively - for what reason, as a result of what."

« Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh's hat! " - the king complains in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin " Boris Godunov" Since the time of Vladimir Monomakh, the crown of Russian tsars has had the shape of a cap. It was decorated with precious stones, so it was “heavy” in the literal sense of the word. In figurative terms - “ Monomakh's hat" personified " heaviness", the responsibility of royal power, the grave responsibilities of an autocrat.

In the novel by A.S. Pushkin “ Eugene Onegin“An important role is played by the image of the Muse, who since ancient times has personified the source of poetic inspiration. The expression “the poet was visited by a muse” has a figurative meaning. But the Muse - the poet's friend and inspirer - appears in the novel in the form of a living woman, young, beautiful, cheerful. IN " student cell"It's the Muse" opened a feast of young ideas- pranks and serious arguments about life. She is the one " sang“everything that the young poet strived for - 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 " frivolous friend».

During her southern exile, Muse appeared as a romantic heroine - a victim of her destructive passions, determined, capable of reckless rebellion. Her image helped the poet create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery in his poems:

How often l ask Muse
I enjoyed the silent path
The magic of a secret story!..

At the turning point of the author’s creative quest, it was she
She appeared as a district young lady,
With a sad thought in his eyes...

Throughout the entire work " affectionate Muse"was true" girlfriend"poet.

The implementation of metaphor is often found in the poetry of V. Mayakovsky. So, in the poem “ A cloud in pants"he implements the popular expression " nerves cleared up" or " I'm on my nerves»:
I hear:
quiet,
like a sick person out of bed,
the nerve jumped.
Here, -
walked first
barely,
then he ran in
excited,
clear.
Now he and the new two
rushing about with desperate tap dancing...
Nerves -
big,
small,
many, -
are jumping madly,
and already
your legs are shaking from nerves!

It should be remembered that the boundary between different types of metaphor is very arbitrary, unstable, and it can be difficult to accurately determine the type.

The role of metaphors in the text

Metaphor is one of the most striking and powerful means of creating expressiveness and imagery in a text.

Through the metaphorical meaning of words and phrases, the author of the text not only enhances the visibility and clarity of what is depicted, but also conveys the uniqueness and individuality of objects or phenomena, while demonstrating the depth and character 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 learned from another - it 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's nest! Crocodiles!(A.P. Chekhov)

In addition to artistic and journalistic styles, metaphors are characteristic of colloquial and even scientific styles (“ the ozone hole », « electron cloud " and etc.).

Personification- this is a type of metaphor based on the transfer of signs of a living being to natural phenomena, objects and concepts.

More often personifications are used when describing nature.

For example:
Rolling through sleepy valleys,
The sleepy mists have settled,
And only the clatter of horses,
Sounding, it gets lost in the distance.
The day has gone out, turning pale autumn,
Rolling up the fragrant leaves,
Taste dreamless sleep
Half-withered flowers.
(M. Yu. Lermontov)

Less often, personifications are associated with the objective world.

For example:
Isn't it true, never again
Will we not part? Enough?..
AND the violin answered Yes,
But the violin's heart was hurting.
The bow understood everything, he fell silent,
And in the violin the echo was still there...
And it was torment for them,
What people thought was music.
(I. F. Annensky);

There was something good-natured and at the same time cozy in the faces of this house. (D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak)

Personifications- the paths are very old, their roots go back to 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 Foul Idol - all these and other fantastic and zoological characters from 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.

Even today it is unthinkable to imagine works of art without personification; our everyday speech is unthinkable without them.

Figurative speech not only visually represents an idea. Its advantage is that it is shorter. Instead of describing an object in detail, we can compare it with an already known object.

It is impossible to imagine poetic speech without using this technique:
"The storm covers the sky with darkness
Whirling snow whirlwinds
Then, like a beast, she will howl,
She will cry like a child."(A.S. Pushkin)

The role of personifications in the text

Personifications serve to create bright, expressive and imaginative pictures of something, enhancing conveyed thoughts and feelings.

Personification as an expressive means is used not only in artistic style, but also in journalistic and scientific ones.

For example: X-rays show, the device says, the air heals, something is stirring in the economy.

The most common metaphors are formed according to the principle of personification, when an inanimate object receives the properties of an animate one, as if acquiring a face.

1. Typically, the two components of a personification metaphor are a subject and a predicate: " the blizzard was angry», « the golden cloud spent the night», « the waves are playing».

« Get angry", that is, only a person can experience irritation, but " snowstorm", a blizzard, plunging the world into cold and darkness, also brings " evil". « Spend the night"Only living beings are capable of sleeping peacefully at night, " cloud" represents a young woman who has found an unexpected shelter. Marine « waves"in the poet's imagination" play", like children.

We often find examples of metaphors of this type in the poetry of A.S. Pushkin:
Not suddenly delights will abandon us...
A mortal dream flies over him...
My days have flown by...
The spirit of life awakened in him...
The Fatherland caressed you...
Poetry awakens in me...

2. Many personification metaphors are built according to the method of control: “ lyre singing», « the talk of the waves», « fashion darling», « happiness darling" and etc.

A musical instrument is like the human voice, and it too " sings", and the splashing of the waves resembles a quiet conversation. " Favorite», « darling"happens not only to people, but also to wayward ones" fashion"or the fickle one" happiness».

For example: “winter threat”, “the voice of the abyss”, “the joy of sadness”, “the day of despondency”, “the son of laziness”, “threads ... of fun”, “brother by muse, by fate”, “victim of slander”, “cathedrals wax faces ”, “language of joy”, “burden of sorrow”, “hope of young days”, “pages of malice and vice”, “sacred voice”, “by the will of passions”.

But there are metaphors formed differently. The criterion of difference here is the principle of animateness and inanimateness. An inanimate object does NOT receive the properties of an animate object.

1). Subject and predicate: “desire is boiling”, “eyes are burning”, “heart is empty”.

Desire in a person can manifest itself to a strong degree, seethe and “ boil" The eyes, showing excitement, shine and “ are burning" A heart and soul that are not warmed by feeling can become “ empty».

For example: “I learned grief early, I was overcome by persecution”, “our youth will not suddenly fade”, “noon... was burning”, “the moon is floating”, “conversations flow”, “stories spread out”, “love... faded”, “I am calling the shadow ", "life has fallen."

2). Phrases constructed according to the method of control can also, being metaphors, NOT be personification: “ dagger of treason», « tomb of glory», « chain of clouds" and etc.

Steel arms - " dagger" - kills a person, but " treason“is like a dagger and can also destroy and 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", intricately intertwined, forming a kind of chain in the sky.

For example: “flattery of a necklace”, “twilight of freedom”, “forest... of voices”, “clouds of arrows”, “noise of poetry”, “bell of brotherhood”, “incandescence of poetry”, “fire... of black eyes”, “salt of solemn grievances”, “ the science of parting", "flame of southern blood" .

Many metaphors of this kind are formed according to the principle of reification, when the defined word receives the properties of some substance or material: “crystal windows”, “gold hair” .

On a sunny day, the window seems to sparkle like " crystal", and the hair takes on color " gold" The hidden comparison inherent in the metaphor is especially noticeable here.

For example: “in the black velvet of the Soviet night, in the velvet of universal emptiness”, “poems... grape meat”, “crystal of high notes”, “poems like rattling pearls”.

Metaphor concept

Our Russian language, called powerful and great, is diverse and, at first glance, incomprehensible to any foreigner. We can invent new words and use them in different word forms, which is hardly accessible to people for whom this language is not native. They especially do not understand our paths, 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 characteristics from one phenomenon to another. Such a transfer is possible due to the comparison of two objects. For example, “golden ring” and “golden hair”. The comparison is based on the color attribute. In other words, the answer to the question of what a metaphor is may sound like this - it is a hidden comparison.

There are three elements of comparison:

Subject of comparison (what is being compared is considered here).

Image of comparison (the object with which it is compared is taken as a basis).

Sign of comparison (on the basis of which the comparison is made).

Basic functions of metaphor

1. Evaluation.
Typically, the use of metaphors is aimed at evoking certain feelings and ideas in a person. Take, for example, the expression “bronze of muscles.” It is clear that this refers to strong, pumped up muscles.
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, "speaking waves." The waves are likened to a living creature; a person’s imagination evokes a picture depicting the unhurried muttering of the waves.
3. Nominative (nominative).
This function introduces a new object into the language context. For example, “pull the rubber”, that is, hesitate.
4. Cognitive.

Metaphors allow you to see the essential and obvious in a subject. Knowing what a metaphor is, you can diversify your speech and make it more figurative.

Types of metaphors

Metaphors, like any tropes, have their own varieties:

Sharp. Such a metaphor connects concepts that are far apart in meaning.
- Erased. Absolutely the opposite of a sharp metaphor, it 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 it is a frozen expression. It is sometimes impossible to break it down into its components. For example, "cup of being."
- Expanded. This metaphor is quite extensive and unfolds throughout the entire fragment of speech.

Realized. This metaphor is sometimes used in its literal meaning. Most often to create a comic situation. For example, “before you lose 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, varied and understandable.

Ushakov's Dictionary

Metaphor

meta handicap, metaphors, wives (Greek metaphora) ( lit.). Trope, a figure of speech consisting of the use of words and expressions in a figurative sense based on some analogy, similarity, eg(from Pushkin): talk of waves; snakes of heart remorse. Brilliant metaphors. Bad metaphor.

Pedagogical speech science. Dictionary-Directory

Metaphor

(from Greek metaphora - transfer) - a trope (see) of the 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 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., wrote Aristotle, in Rhetoric the greatest

M., based on analogy, deserve attention, for example: “Pericles spoke of youth killed in the war as the destruction of spring among the seasons.” Aristotle considers M. action to be especially strong, that is, one where the analogy is based on the representation of the inanimate as animate, depicting everything as moving and living. And Aristotle considers Homer to be an example of the use of such metals: “The bitter sting of the arrow... bounced back from the copper. A sharp arrow rushed into the midst of the enemies, towards the intended greedy victim” (Iliad). But 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 that were sultryly crackling in the grass, and the drums in the camps sighed and trembled, the earth grew dark in the eyes and there was no life in the world... The cloud looked around look at the low, baked stubble. They stretched all the way to the horizon. The cloud easily reared up. They extended further, beyond the camps. The cloud settled 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 properties) of one animate object with another animate (today we can talk about the transfer of properties from living to living, because among the Greeks and Romans only people were considered animate). For example: “There were horses - not horses, tigers” (E. Zamyatin. Rus'); the walrus “... rolls up onto the platform again, on its fat, powerful body Nietzsche’s mustachioed, bristly head with a smooth forehead appears” (V. Khlebnikov. Menagerie);

2) one inanimate object is replaced (property transfer occurs) with another inanimate object. For example: “A river swirls in the desert fog” (A. Pushkin. Window); “Above him is a golden ray of sun” (M. Lermontov. Sail); “A rusty leaf fell from the trees” (F. Tyutchev. N.I. Krolyu); “The boiling sea below us” (song “Varyag”);

3) replacement (transfer of properties) of an inanimate object with an animate one. For example: “The word is the greatest ruler: it looks small and imperceptible, but it does wonderful things - it can stop fear and ward off sadness, cause joy, increase pity” (Gorgias. Praise to Helen); “The night is quiet, the desert listens to God, and star speaks to star” (M. Lermontov. I go out alone on the road...); “A rusty bolt will cry at the gate” (A. Bely. Jester); “Bright Kolomna, hugging my sister Ryazan, wets my bare feet in the tear-stained Oka” (N. Klyuev. Devastation); “The linden trees were chilled to the bones” (N. Klyuev. The linden trees were chilled to the bones...);

4) replacement (transfer of properties) of an animate object with an inanimate one. For example: “Strong heart” (i.e., stingy, cruel) - the officer says about the moneylender Sanjuelo (R. Lesage. The Adventures of Gil Blas from Santillana); “Sophists are poisonous shoots that cling to healthy plants, hemlock in a virgin forest” (V. Hugo. Les Misérables); “The Sophists are lush, magnificent flowers of the rich Greek spirit” (A. Herzen. Letters on the study of nature).

Aristotle in “Rhetoric” emphasized that M. “has a high degree of clarity, pleasantness and a sign of novelty.” It was M., he believed, along with the commonly used words of his native language, that 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 rhetorical trope, the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on the principle of their similarity in some respect, and comparison is a logical technique similar to the definition of a concept, a figurative expression in which the depicted phenomenon is likened to another. Usually comparison is expressed using the words like, like, as if. M., in contrast to comparison, has greater expression. The means of language make it possible to separate comparison and M. quite strictly. This was done back in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Here are comparisons by I. Annensky in “The Trefoil of Temptation”: “A cheerful day is burning... Among the withered grasses, all the poppies are spotted - like greedy impotence, like lips full of temptation and poison, like scarlet butterflies with unfurled wings.” They can easily be turned into a metaphor: Poppies are scarlet butterflies with unfolded 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 it, as it were, and then the impression of riskiness characteristic of M. will weaken.

In the treatises of rhetoricians, in the works of specialists in the field of poetics and stylistics, most attention is paid to M himself. Quintilian called it the most common and beautiful of the tropes of rhetoric. It is, the Roman rhetorician believed, something innate and even in complete ignoramuses it often emerges in the most natural way. But it is much more pleasant and beautiful when M. is tastefully sought out and shines with her own light in high speech. It increases the richness of the language by changing or borrowing everything that is lacking in it. M. is used to amaze the mind, to more strongly identify the subject and to present it as if before the eyes of the listeners. Of course, one cannot exaggerate her role. Quintilian noted that excess M. bothers the listener’s attention and turns speech into an allegory and a riddle. You should not use low and indecent M., as well as M. based on false similarity. Aristotle saw one of the reasons for the pompousness and coldness of a speaker’s speech in the use of inappropriate words. He believed that three types of words 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 poetic appearance.

The subject of constant discussions, since antiquity, has been the question of how much metal can be used at the same time. Already the Greek theorists of rhetoric accepted as a “law” the simultaneous use of two, maximum three M. Having agreed, in principle, with this position, Pseudo-Longinus in his treatise “On the Sublime” still 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 with it.” It is these properties of M. that were superbly demonstrated by M.V. Lomonosov: “The master of many languages, the Russian language, not only in the vastness of the places where it dominates, but also in its own space and contentment, is great before everyone in Europe... Charles the Fifth... if he were skilled in the Russian language, then. .. would find in it the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the strength of German, the tenderness of Italian, and, moreover, the richness and strong brevity of Greek and Latin 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 along the branches, vigorous frosty crackling, a woodpecker hammering; yellow summer days, wax candles in gnarled green hands, transparent honey tears down hardened strong trunks, cuckoos counting the years. But then the clouds swelled in the stuffiness, the sky split into a crimson crack, a drop of fire began to light up - and the centuries-old forest began to smoke, and by morning red tongues were buzzing all around, a thorn, a whistle, a crackling, a howl, half the sky was in smoke, the sun was barely visible in the blood” (E. Zamyatin. Rus').

B.L. paid a lot of attention to assessing the role of M. in fiction. 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 sacredly reproduced it” (B. Pasternak. Safe-conduct). “Metaphorism is a natural consequence of the fragility of man and the long-planned enormity of his tasks. Given this discrepancy, he is forced to look at things with the keen eye of an eagle and explain himself with instantaneous and immediately understandable insights. This is poetry. Metaphorism is a shorthand for a great personality, a shorthand for his spirit” (B. Pasternak. Notes on translations from Shakespeare).

M. is the most common and most expressive of all tropes.

Lit.: Ancient theories of language and style. - M.; L., 1936. - P. 215-220; Aristotle. Poetics // Aristotle. Works: In 4 vols. - M., 1984. - T. 4. - P. 669-672; Aristotle. Rhetoric // Ancient rhetoric. - M., 1978. - P. 130-135, 145-148; Arutyunova N.D. Metaphor//Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1990; Demetrius. About style // Ancient rhetoric. - M., 1978; Jol K.K. Thought. Word. Metaphor. - Kyiv, 1984; Quintilian. Twelve books of rhetorical instructions. In 2 parts. - St. Petersburg, 1834; Korolkov V.I. On the extra-linguistic and intra-linguistic aspects of the study of metaphor // Uch. zap. MGPIIYA. - M., 1971. - Issue. 58; Lomonosov M.V. A short guide to eloquence: Book One, which contains rhetoric, showing the general rules of both eloquence, that is, oratorio and poetry, composed for the benefit of those who love verbal sciences // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - P. 147-148; Lvov M.R. Rhetoric: A textbook for students of grades 10-11. - M., 1995; Panov M.I. Rhetoric from antiquity to the present day // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - P. 31-32; Freidenberg O.M. Metaphor // Freidenberg O.M. Myth and literature of antiquity. - M., 1978; Encyclopedic Dictionary of Young Literary Critics: For Wednesdays and Seniors. school age / Comp. IN AND. Novikov. - M., 1988. - P. 167-169.

M.I. Panov

Metaphor

(Greek metaphora - transfer). The use of a word in a figurative meaning based on the similarity in some respect of two objects or phenomena. Noble nest (the direct meaning of the word nest is the home of a bird, the figurative meaning is a human community), an airplane wing ( Wed: bird wing), golden autumn ( Wed: gold chain). Unlike a two-term comparison, in which both what is being compared and what is being compared are given, a metaphor contains only the second, which creates compactness and figurativeness in the use of words. Metaphor is one of the most common tropes, since the similarity between objects or phenomena can be based on a variety of features.

Culturology. Dictionary-reference book

Metaphor

Greek metaphora - transference.

the most extensive form of trope, rhetoric. a figure representing the likening of one concept or representation to another, the transfer of significant features or characteristics of the latter to it, its use as an incomplete comparison or a principle (scheme) of functional interpretation. With all the variety of interpretations of M., they all go back to the Aristotelian definition: “M. is the transfer of an unusual name either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or by analogy.” The avalanche-like growing (since the end of the last century) flow of works about materialism is associated with an awareness of its role in the processes of meaning formation, and mostly consists of experiments in the description of metaphors. education in various fields of culture (including science, music or mathematics), formal or content, incl. - historical, typology of M. M. V. Kugler, based on the pragmatics of M., divides existing concepts into theories of substitution and theories of predication. Both approaches complement each other, since they were developed on different historical and cultural materials: in the first case, the basis was, in general, a strictly regulated topic of tradition. poetics (folklore, courtly or ornamental, genre or formulaic definitions of literature and rhetoric), in another way modern poetry was comprehended. speech and text practice in literature, science, culture, ideology, everyday life. Real practice is metaphorical. meaning formation, naturally, uses both traditional and modern. rhetorical techniques and rules.

The first group of theories of M. considers it as a formula for replacing a word, lexeme, concept, name (nominative construction) or representation (construction of primary experience) with another ersatz word, lexeme, concept, concept or contextual construction containing designations of secondary experience or signs of another semiotic order (Richard the Lionheart, the lamp of the mind, the eyes are the mirror of the soul, the power of the word; and the stone word fell, you, centuries of the past decrepit sowing, Onegin’s airy bulk stood above me like a cloud (Akhmatova), the age-wolfhound, the deep swoon of lilac, and colors sonorous steps (Mandelshtam).An explicit or implicit connection of these concepts in a speech or mental act (x as y) is produced in the course of replacing one circle of meanings (frame, script, in the words of M. Minsky) with another or other meanings through subjective or conventional, situational or contextual redefinition of the content of a concept (representation, semantic field of a word), carried out while maintaining the background generally accepted (objective, objective) meaning of a lexeme, concept or concept. Such objectivity itself (objectivity of meaning) can only be preserved translinguistically, by social conventions of speech, by cultural norms , and is expressed, as a rule, in substantive forms. This group of theories emphasizes semantic. incomparability of elements forming relations of replacement, synopsis of concepts, interference of concepts of the subject and definitions, qualifications, connections of semantics. functions of image (representation) and value expression or appeal. Not only departments can be replaced. semantic elements or concepts (within one system of meanings or frameworks of correlation), but entire systems of meanings indexed in specific terms. discursive-rhetorical. context of dep. M.

M.'s theories are also grouped around methodological principles. ideas of "semantically anomalous" or "paradoxical predication". M. in this case is interpreted as an interactional synthesis of “imaginative fields”, “spiritual, analogizing the act of mutual coupling of two semantic regions” that form a specific. the quality of obviousness or imagery. “Interaction” here means subjective (free from normative regulations), individual operating (interpretation, modulation) with generally accepted meanings (semantic conventions of subject or existential connectives, predicates, semantic, value meanings of the “existence” of an object). (“A mirror dreams of a mirror”, “I am visiting a memory”, “troubles are missing us”, “the rosehip was so fragrant that it even turned into a word”, “and now I am writing, as before, without blots, my poems in a burnt notebook” ( Akhmatova), “But I forgot what I want to say, and the disembodied thought will return to the palace of shadows” (Mandelshtam), “in the structure of the air there is the presence of a diamond” (Zabolotsky)). This interpretation of M. focuses on the pragmatics of metaphor. construction, speech or intellectual action, emphasizes the functional meaning of the semantics used. bringing together or connecting two meanings.

The theories of substitution summed up the experience of analyzing the use of metaphor in relatively closed semantic spaces (rhetorical or literary traditions and group canons, institutional contexts), in which the metaphorical subject itself is quite clearly defined. utterance, its role, and its recipient or addressee, as well as the rules of metaphor. substitution, accordingly, of the norms for understanding metaphor. Before the modern era, there was a tendency for strict social control over newly introduced metaphors (fixed by oral tradition, a corporation or class of singers and poets, or codified within the framework of normative poetics of the classicist type, such as, for example, the French Academy of the 17th-18th centuries), the residuals of which preserved in the pursuit of hierarchy. division of the “high”, poetic. and everyday, prosaic. language. The situation of modern times (subjective lyrics, modern art, non-classical science) is characterized by a broad interpretation of music as a process of speech interaction. For researchers who share the predicate or interactional paradigm of mathematics, the focus of attention is transferred from enumeration or containment. descriptions of the metaphors themselves on the mechanisms of their formation, on the situational (contextual) rules and norms of metaphors subjectively developed by the speaker himself. synthesis of a new meaning and the limits of its understanding by others, the Crimea is addressed to a statement constituted by a metaphor - to a partner, reader, correspondent. This approach significantly increases thematic field of study of M., making it possible to analyze its role outside of tradition. rhetoric, considered as the main. structure of semantic innovation. In this capacity, mathematics is becoming one of the most promising and developing areas in the study of the language of science, ideology, philosophy, and culture.

From the beginning of the 19th century. (A. Bizet, G. Feihinger) and to this day means. Part of M.'s research in science is devoted to identifying and describing the functional types of M. in various types. discourses. The simplest division is associated with the division of erased (“cold”, “frozen”) or routine M. (“bottle neck”, “table leg”, “clock hands”, “time goes or stands”, “golden time”, “flaming chest", this also includes the whole metaphor of light, mirror, organism, birth, flourishing and death, etc.) and individual M. Accordingly, in the first case, connections between M and mythology are traced. or traditional consciousness, semantics are revealed. the roots of the significance of M. in rituals or magic. procedures (methodology and cognitive techniques of disciplines gravitating towards cultural studies are used). In the second case, the emphasis is on the analysis of the instrumental or expressive meaning of M. in systems of explanation and argumentation, in suggestive and poetic. speeches (works of literary scholars, philosophers and sociologists dealing with issues of the cultural foundations of science, ideology, historians and other specialists). At the same time, “nuclear” (“root”) M. are distinguished, defining axiomatic ones—ontological ones. or methodical - a framework of explanation that embodies the anthropopol. representations in science in general or in particular. its disciplines and paradigms, in the spheres of culture, and occasional or contextual M., used by the department. by researchers for their own explanatory or argumentative purposes and needs. Of particular interest to researchers are the basic, root M., the number of which is extremely limited. The appearance of new M. of this genus means the beginning of specialization. differentiation in science, the formation of “regional” () ontologies and paradigms. Nuclear M. defines general semantics. the framework of the disciplinary “picture of the world” (ontological construction of reality), the elements of which can unfold in departments. theory designs and concepts. These are the fundamental mathematics that arose during the formation of modern science - the “Book of Nature”, which is “written in the language of mathematics” (Galileo’s metaphor), “God as a watchmaker” (respectively, the Universe is a clock, a machine or a mechanical system) etc. Each similar metaphor. education sets the semantic framework of the methodology. formalization of private theories, semantic. rules for reconciling them with more general conceptual contexts and scientific paradigms, which provides science with a common rhetoric. empirical interpretation scheme observations, explanations of facts and theories. evidence. Examples of nuclear M. - in economics, social and historical. sciences: about how an organism (biol. system with its own cycles, functions, organs), geol. structure (formations, layers), structure, buildings (pyramid, base, superstructure), machine (mechanical system), theater (roles), social behavior as text (or language); balance of forces of interests) and actions of various. authors, balance (scales); "invisible hand" (A. Smith), revolution. Expansion of the scope of conventional use of M., accompanied by methodological codification of situations of its use, turns M. into a model, scientific concept or term with a definition. volume of values. These are, for example, the main concepts in natural sciences sciences: particle, wave, forces, voltage, field, arrow of time, primary. explosion, attraction, swarm of photons, planetary structure of the atom, inform. noise. black box, etc. Each conceptual innovation affecting the structure of a disciplinary ontology or basic methods. principles, is expressed in the emergence of new M.: Maxwell's demon, Occam's razor. M. do not simply integrate specialists. spheres of knowledge with the sphere of culture, but are also semantic structures that define. characteristics of rationality (its semantic formula) in one or another area of ​​human. activities.

Lit.: Gusev S.S. Science and metaphor. L., 1984; Theory of metaphor: Sat. M., 1990; Gudkov L.D. Metaphor and rationality as a problem of social epistemology M., 1994; Lieb H.H. Der Umfang des historischen Metaphernbegriffs. Koln, 1964; Shibles W.A. Metaphor: An annotated Bibliography and History. Whitewater (Wisconsin), 1971; Theorie der Metapher. Darmstadt, 1988; Kugler W. Zur Pragmatik der Metapher, Metaphernmodelle und historische Paradigmen. Fr./M., 1984.

L.D. Gudkov.

Cultural studies of the twentieth century. Encyclopedia. M.1996

Dictionary of linguistic terms

Metaphor

(Old Greekμεταφορά transfer)

Transferring a name from one object (phenomenon, action, sign) to another based on their similarity. From the point of view of stylistic coloring and use in language, metaphors are divided into three groups:

1) lost imagery: door handle;

2) preserving imagery in the language: beaded handwriting;

Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

Metaphor

(Greek metaphora - transfer) - transfer of the properties of one object (phenomenon) to another based on a characteristic common to both compared members; establishing a connection by similarity.

RB: language. Visual and expressive means

Genus: trails

Type: personification, extended metaphor

Ass: metaphorical image

Example:

the talk of the waves

muscle bronze

With a sheaf of your oat hair

You belong to me forever.

S. Yesenin

The dog's eyes rolled

Golden stars in the snow.

S. Yesenin

* “Metaphor acts both as a source of enrichment and development of language, and as a source of artistic creativity” (M.Ya. Polyakov).

Metaphors do not always contribute to the clarification and deep perception of what is being communicated. Interesting remark by V.E. Meyerhold: Be careful not to speak in metaphors with pedants. They take everything literally and then give you no peace... (V.V. Vinogradov). *

Terms of Film Semiotics

METAPHOR

(from Greek metaphora - transfer) is the transfer of the name of one object or phenomenon to another object or phenomenon due to similarity. For example, shuttle (boat) - shuttle (part of a spinning wheel) - shuttle (a person constantly transporting goods across the border), or steel (knife) - steel (nerves) - steel (color). Metaphors are divided into: 1) dry (erased, dead, i.e. those whose figurative meaning is forgotten, for example, a railway branch comes from a tree branch), 2) general poetic (for example, a raspberry ringing), 3) original (for example, in V. Khlebnikov: oh, swanlike!). The author's metaphors are not recorded in explanatory dictionaries. See also in grammar.

Philosophical Dictionary (Comte-Sponville)

Metaphor

Metaphor

♦Metaphore

Stylistic figure. Implicit comparison, the use of one word instead of another based on some analogy or similarity between the things being compared. The number of metaphors is truly endless, but we will give only a few examples. Thus, Homer speaks of the “rosy fingers” of the dawn (and Baudelaire, born in the north, claims that “the dawn trembles in its pinkish-green attire”). In turn, Aeschylus gave, in my opinion, the best description of all of the Mediterranean Sea, noting that “its smiles have no number.” If we recall French poetry, it is absolutely impossible to ignore Victor Hugo and his poem “Sleeping Booz”. So, night. A young girl lies with her head thrown back and looks at the moon and stars. The poet gives us a whole lush bouquet of metaphors:

Everything sleeps peacefully in Jerimadeth, in Ur...

The night skies were filled with stars,

And the young month between the star flowers

Shines from the west. Alive by nature

Eyes half-closed, silent involuntarily,

Ruth wonders which deity

Which heavenly reaper, when and why

He left the golden sickle on this star field.

Translation by I. Iskhakov

According to Lacan, behind the process of condensation (compression) described by Freud, which appears in a disguised form in dreams and symptoms of a number of diseases, there is also a metaphor. In both cases, one meaningful element is replaced by another: “Condensation (Verdichtung) is a structure of mutual overlap of meaningful elements, which is based on metaphor” (“Structural components of literature in the subconscious”). This, of course, does not turn our subconscious into the creator of poetic creations, but it can, at least partially, explain why poetry in general and metaphor in particular make such a strong impression on us. However, one should not attach too much importance to the metaphor. To designate one thing by another thing which it is not is clearly not enough to express what it is. Here, poetry and dreams are replaced by prose and reality, loudly declaring their rights, or rather, their demands.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language (Alabugina)

Metaphor

Y, and.

The use of a word or expression in a figurative sense based on analogy, similarity, comparison.

Metaphor by A. Voznesensky.

|| adj. metaphorical, oh, oh.

* Metaphorical statement. *

Aesthetics. encyclopedic Dictionary

Metaphor

(Greek metaphora- transfer)

an allegory in which the recognition of one object is transferred to another in order to make the statement more intelligible, vivid, and impressive. The use of a word or expression in a figurative sense can be based either on the similarity of the things being compared, or on the existing contrast between them. In literary theory, metaphors are divided into personifying and reifying, simple and expanded, metaphors-symbols and metaphors by similarity, etc.

Classic literary texts are full of metaphors. They are present in abundance in the Bible. The need for their use by the authors of Holy Scripture arose every time they began to talk about God. Convinced of the incomprehensibility of the great mystery that God the Creator carries within himself, they found a way to talk about Him and His deeds using the language of metaphors. The latter were either anthropomorphic or “physiomorphic” in nature, that is, comparison images were drawn both from the sphere of human existence and from the world of natural manifestations of cosmic, natural and animal life. While they did not give exhaustive characteristics of God, which was impossible and which the biblical authors did not pretend to do, they, nevertheless, with the help of metaphors, seemed to bring God closer to the limits of human understanding, introduced Him into the circle of human ideas, and gave the reader a feeling of the greatness of the Creator, so is His ability to condescend to man. When the prophet Ezekiel saw the appearance of God before him, in his description of this he used a synthetic metaphor, which included images of clouds and radiance, fire and rainbow, topaz and sapphire, lion and eagle, copper and chariot: “And I saw, and behold , a stormy wind came from the north, a great cloud and swirling fire, and a radiance around it; and from the middle of it the likeness of four animals was visible - and this was their appearance: their appearance was like that of a man... And they walked, each in the direction that was in front of his face; Where the spirit wanted to go, that’s where they went; They did not turn around during their procession. And the appearance of these animals was like the appearance of burning coals, like the appearance of lamps; fire walked among the animals, and a radiance came from the fire and lightning came from the fire. And the animals quickly moved back and forth, like lightning flashing... And when they walked, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a strong noise, like the noise in a military camp; and when they stopped, they lowered their wings. And a voice came from the vault that was over their heads; when they stopped, then they lowered their wings. And above the vault, which was over their heads, there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance as if made of sapphire stone; and above the likeness of the throne was the likeness of a man above it. And he saw, as it were, flaming metal, as if the appearance of fire inside it all around; from the sight of his loins and above, and from the sight of his loins and below, I saw a kind of fire, and a radiance was around him. In what form does a rainbow appear on the clouds during rain, this is the appearance of this radiance all around. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. Seeing this, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of the Speaker, and He said to me: Son of man! stand on your feet, and I will speak to you” (Ezek. 1:4-2:1).

In Russian philosophical and aesthetic romanticism of the early 19th century. with his attachment to the ideas of F. Schelling, the metaphor was interpreted extremely broadly. V.F.-Odoevsky saw in it a universal, with the help of which it is possible to explain both the phenomena of artistic life and the interconnected phenomena of the natural world. “In nature,” he argued, “everything is metaphor for each other».

Metaphor is not only an expressive means of language, but also an important thinking tool, which is used not only by writers, but also by philosophers (X. Ortega y Gasset “Two Great Metaphors”, 1925), cultural experts, and scientists. In a number of cases, metaphors have meanings and meanings that do not fit into an artistic-aesthetic framework and are of a cultural and general scientific nature. Thus, the poet M. Voloshin deployed two metaphors of godless, secularized reality - “world-mechanism” and “man-machine”:

The machine taught man to think decently and reason sensibly.

She clearly proved to him that

That there is no spirit, but only matter,

That a person is the same as a machine,

That the stellar cosmos is only a mechanism / For the production of time, that thought / A simple product of the digestion of the brain. / That being determines spirit,

That genius is degeneration, that culture / An increase in the number of needs,

That the ideal is well-being and satiety, That there is a single world stomach / And there are no other gods besides it.

Philosophical consciousness often resorts to ideological metaphors “world-clock”, “world-machine”, “world-organism”, “world-text”, etc. Modern researchers (I. Prigozhin, I. Stengers, O. Balla, S. Gusev etc.) connect the historical change of scientific and philosophical pictures of the world with changes in fundamental world-descriptive metaphors. “In any era, the dominant metaphor never sounds solo; it is always only the strongest of many voices, each of which leads its own constant theme in scientific (and not only scientific) knowledge. In this choir you can always hear the voices of the past and the future, trying to break through to the solo. But the dominant metaphor suppresses the weaker ones until it exhausts its melody. For some time, two or three key metaphors may sound equally strong: either in unison or in counterpoint, then it becomes unclear which of them will take the lead in the near future. Ultimately, the winner is the one that, in a given cultural situation, contains more heuristic possibilities” (A. M. Eremenko, 2000).

◘ Lit.: Kuzovkin A., Nepomnyashchy N. Metaphorical deformation//Space Age. 1993. No. 1. Metaphor theory. - M., 1990; Freidenberg O. M. Myth and literature of antiquity. - M., 1978.

Explanatory translation dictionary

Metaphor

linguistic, which corresponds to a certain model of reality, determined by human thinking and influencing the choice of alternatives in the decision-making process.

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms

Metaphor

♦ (ENG metaphor)

a form of speech in which one thing is spoken of in terms of another (eg Job 8:16-17). Contemporary theological interest in metaphor relates to the broader context of religious language and in particular to the recognition that metaphor has openness and stretching properties.

Aya, oh. M. image of the bird-troika in “Dead Souls” » . Metaphorical thinking.

Efremova's Dictionary

Metaphor

and.
A figure of speech consisting in the use of words and expressions figuratively
meaning to determine an object or phenomenon based on analogy, comparison or
similarities (in literary criticism).

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Metaphor

(Greek Μεταφορα, lat. Translatio, “transfer”) - not in its own, but in a figurative sense, a pictorial or figurative expression used; represents, as it were, a concentrated comparison, and instead of the object being compared, the name of the object with which they want to compare is put directly, for example: roses of the cheeks - instead of pink (i.e., rose-like) cheeks or the pink color of the cheeks. M. promotes grace, strength and brilliance of speech; Even in everyday life, in common parlance, expressions of passion are almost never complete without it. Especially for poets, M. is a necessary auxiliary tool. It gives speech a special, higher transparency, putting even an abstract concept into living forms and making it accessible to contemplation. There are four types of M. In the first type, one concrete (or sensory) is put in place of another, for example forest of masts, dew diamonds ; in the second, inanimate objects are spiritualized or animated, feelings, actions and states characteristic of humans are attributed to the forces of nature, for example The blizzard is angry, the blizzard is crying ; the third type of M. embodies thoughts, feelings, passions, etc. into visible forms, for example pillars of the state, the poison of doubt ; the fourth type of M. connects one abstract concept with another, for example bitterness of separation. If M. is very common, it turns into an allegory (see).

Wed. Brinkmann, "Die Metaphern. Studien ü ber den Geist der modernen Sprachen" (Bonn, 1878, vol. I).

Russian language dictionaries

Iron nerves, an icy heart and golden hands made everyone envy him with black envy. How about four metaphors in one sentence?

Good day, dear readers, if you have come to my site, it means you want to learn something new about how to write certain texts, promote your site or similar information. Today we will talk about what a metaphor is, we will learn how to create our own and understand how it strengthens the text. I will also show examples from the literature.

What is it? A metaphor is a word or combination of words that is used figuratively. The purpose of using a metaphor is to compare an unnamed name, property or meaning of an object with another object, property or meaning, based on similar characteristics. It's not as complicated as it sounds, so don't be afraid.

This linguistic device is often confused with comparison, but their main difference is that in comparison it is immediately clear what you are comparing and with what, for example, “he was as beautiful as a flower.” An example of a metaphor would be simply the expression “the purple of the rose.” Everyone understands that the rose is not purple, but has a vibrant color similar to a distant shade of purple.

great and mighty

Today in the modern Russian literary language there is a huge number of various means designed to enhance the effect. Such means are called artistic devices and are used in the following styles of speech:

In fiction, expressive phrases are used to dilute dry text. In journalistic - to enhance the effect and influence on the reader, in order to force him to do something or at least think about the meaning of what he read.

Learning to create

In order for you to create a great metaphor, you need to understand one rule: it must be understandable to the masses. That is, it must be understood. Of course, some people really like to think and guess what the author really wanted to say, but this is a small percentage of readers. The majority want to recognize something familiar in the text and associate it with themselves.

Having understood the first rule, it is also worth remembering that in modern language there is a huge number of clichés (very hackneyed phrases). They can be very hurtful to the reader's eyes. Judge for yourself how tired we are of such phrases as “love is evil” and “buy cheap.” The first is understandable, but the second is a forced cliché that is needed to optimize a website.

Often on such sites it is not possible to buy anything inexpensively. As for cliché metaphors, they have a doubly repulsive effect. For example, “your eyes are the ocean” is a hundred-year-old metaphor. It will not cause any effect in the reader other than disgust. Just remember that you cannot use expressions that are far from the reader and those that he is already pretty tired of. Try to find this fine line and your work will immediately become more readable and interesting.

Classification

Today there are several types of metaphors:

• Sharp (brings together concepts that are distant in meaning);
• Expanded (combines several concepts and is embodied in different parts of the text, for example, “the automobile market has fallen: products from the car market are increasingly turning out to be stale, you don’t even want to taste them”);
• Erased (a metaphor used in everyday life and already perceived as it should be, for example, a door handle);
• Metaphor-formula (close to an erased one, but differs in that established expressions act as phraseological units - indestructible combinations of words, for example, heart of gold).

Examples from literature

Our great ancestors left us a huge store of knowledge encrypted in literature, and only those who can understand all the author’s ideas are able to access this knowledge. You should start searching for them by learning to understand the artistic means that were used in literature. This is also necessary to truly enjoy the works, and not to read and forget.

Since we are talking about metaphors today, let’s try to understand them. For example, in Sergei Yesenin’s poem “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry,” the metaphor “...withering away in gold...” implies closeness to old age. If you have thought of this yourself, then congratulations, you can already identify the metaphor, and most importantly, understand its meaning. But if you learn and understand this language device, it is not at all necessary that you will be able to create them yourself. This requires, at a minimum, training, and even better, a sharp mind. By the way, “sharp mind” is also a metaphor for unconventional thinking.

It turns out that in everyday communication, the style of communication also implies the presence of linguistic means, but metaphor is much less common here than, for example, comparisons or epithets.

Thank you for reading to the very end, leave your comment and get the opportunity to download a unique book that will help you become a real author.

from Greek metaphora - transfer, image) - the use of a word in a figurative meaning based on the similarity in any respect of two objects or phenomena; replacing an ordinary expression with a figurative one (for example, golden autumn, the sound of waves, an airplane wing).

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

METAPHOR

from 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 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 kinds of M., wrote Aristotle, in Rhetoric the M. based on analogy deserve the greatest attention, for example: “Pericles spoke of youth killed in war as the destruction of spring among the seasons.” Aristotle considers M. action to be especially strong, that is, one where the analogy is based on the representation of the inanimate as animate, depicting everything as moving and living. And Aristotle considers Homer to be an example of the use of such metals: “The bitter sting of the arrow... bounced back from the copper. A sharp arrow rushed into the midst of the enemies, towards the intended greedy victim” (Iliad). But 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 that were sultryly crackling in the grass, and the drums in the camps sighed and trembled, the earth grew dark in the eyes and there was no life in the world... The cloud looked around look at the low, baked stubble. They stretched all the way to the horizon. The cloud easily reared up. They extended further, beyond the camps. The cloud settled 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 most typical will be the following four cases: 1) replacement (transfer of property) of one animate object with another animate one (today we can talk about the transfer of property from living to living, because The Greeks and Romans considered only people to be animate). For example: “There were horses - not horses, tigers” (E. Zamyatin. Rus'); the walrus “... rolls up onto the platform again, on its fat, powerful body Nietzsche’s mustachioed, bristly head with a smooth forehead appears” (V. Khlebnikov. Menagerie); 2) one inanimate object is replaced (property transfer occurs) with another inanimate object. For example: “A river swirls in the desert fog” (A. Pushkin. Window); “Above him is a golden ray of sun” (M. Lermontov. Sail); “A rusty leaf fell from the trees” (F. Tyutchev. N.I. Krolyu); “The boiling sea below us” (song “Varyag”); 3) replacement (transfer of properties) of an inanimate object with an animate one. For example: “The word is the greatest ruler: it looks small and imperceptible, but does wonderful things - it can stop fear and turn away sadness, cause joy, and increase pity” (Gorgias. Praise to Elena); “The night is quiet, the desert listens to God, and star speaks to star” (M. Lermontov. I go out alone on the road...); “A rusty bolt will cry at the gate” (A. Bely. Jester); “Bright Kolomna, hugging my sister Ryazan, wets my bare feet in the tear-stained Oka” (N. Klyuev. Devastation); “The linden trees were chilled to the bones” (N. Klyuev. The linden trees were chilled to the bones...); 4) replacement (transfer of properties) of an animate object with an inanimate one. For example: “Strong heart” (i.e., stingy, cruel) - the officer says about the moneylender Sanjuelo (R. Lesage. The Adventures of Gil Blas from San Tillana); “The Sophists are poisonous shoots that cling to healthy plants, hemlock in a virgin forest” (V. Hugo. Les Misérables); “The Sophists are lush, magnificent flowers of the rich Greek spirit” (A. Herzen. Letters on the study of nature). Aristotle in “Rhetoric” emphasized that M. “has a high degree of clarity, pleasantness and a sign of novelty.” It was M., he believed, along with the commonly used words of his native language, that 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 rhetorical trope, the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on the principle of their similarity in some respect, and comparison is a logical technique similar to the definition of a concept, a figurative expression in which the depicted phenomenon is likened to another. Usually comparison is expressed using the words like, like, as if. M., in contrast to comparison, has greater expression. The means of language make it possible to separate comparison and M. quite strictly. This was done back in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Here are comparisons by I. Annensky in “The Trefoil of Temptation”: “A cheerful day is burning... Among the withered grasses, all the poppies are spotted - like greedy impotence, like lips full of temptation and poison, like scarlet butterflies with unfurled wings.” They can easily be turned into a metaphor: Poppies are scarlet butterflies with unfolded 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 it, as it were, and then the impression of riskiness characteristic of M. will weaken. In the treatises of rhetoricians, in the works of specialists in the field of poetics and stylistics, most attention is paid to M himself. Quintilian called it the most common and beautiful of the tropes of rhetoric. It is, the Roman rhetorician believed, something innate and even in complete ignoramuses it often emerges in the most natural way. But it’s much nicer and more beautiful when M. tastefully sought out and in high speech shines with its own light. It increases the richness of the language by changing or borrowing everything that is lacking in it. M. is used to amaze the mind, to more strongly identify the subject and to present it as if before the eyes of the listeners. Of course, one cannot exaggerate her role. Quintilian noted that excess M. bothers the listener’s attention and turns speech into an allegory and a riddle. You should not use low and indecent M., as well as M. based on false similarity. Aristotle saw one of the reasons for the pompousness and coldness of a speaker’s speech in the use of inappropriate words. He believed that three types of words 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 poetic appearance. The subject of constant discussions, since antiquity, has been the question of how much metal can be used at the same time. Already the Greek theorists of rhetoric accepted as a “law” the simultaneous use of two, maximum three M. Having agreed, in principle, with this position, Pseudo-Longinus in his treatise “On the Sublime” still 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 with it.” It is these properties of M. that were superbly demonstrated by M.V. Lomonosov: “The master of many languages, the Russian language, not only in the vastness of the places where it dominates, but also in its own space and contentment, is great before everyone in Europe... Charles the Fifth... if he were skilled in the Russian language, then. .. would find in it the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the strength of German, the tenderness of Italian, and, moreover, the richness and strong brevity of Greek and Latin 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 along the branches, vigorous frosty crackling, a woodpecker hammering; yellow summer days, wax candles in gnarled green hands, transparent honey tears down hardened strong trunks, cuckoos counting the years. But then the clouds swelled in the stuffiness, the sky split into a crimson crack, a drop of fire began to light up - and the centuries-old forest began to smoke, and by morning red tongues were buzzing all around, a thorn, a whistle, a crackling, a howl, half the sky was in smoke, the sun was barely visible in the blood” (E. Zamyatin. Rus'). B. paid a lot of attention to assessing the role of M. in fiction. 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 sacredly reproduced it” (B. Pasternak. Safe-conduct). “Metaphorism is a natural consequence of the fragility of man and the long-planned enormity of his tasks. Given this discrepancy, he is forced to look at things with the keen eye of an eagle and explain himself with instantaneous and immediately understandable insights. This is poetry. Metaphorism is a shorthand for a great personality, a shorthand for his spirit” (B. Pasternak. Notes on translations from Shakespeare). M. is the most common and most expressive of all tropes. Lit.: Ancient theories of language and style. - M.; L., 1936. - P. 215-220; Aristotle. Poetics // Aristotle. Works: In 4 vols. - M., 1984. - T. 4. - P. 669-672; Aristotle. Rhetoric // Ancient rhetoric. - M., 1978. - P. 130-135, 145-148; Arutyunova N.D. Metaphor//Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1990; Demetrius. About style // Ancient rhetoric. - M., 1978; Jol K.K. Thought. Word. Metaphor. - Kyiv, 1984; Quintilian. Twelve books of rhetorical instructions. In 2 parts. - St. Petersburg, 1834; Korolkov V.I. On the extra-linguistic and intra-linguistic aspects of the study of metaphor // Uch. zap. MGPIIYA. - M., 1971. - Issue. 58; Lomonosov M.V. A short guide to eloquence: Book One, which contains rhetoric, showing the general rules of both eloquence, that is, oratorio and poetry, composed for the benefit of those who love verbal sciences // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - P. 147-148; Lvov M.R. Rhetoric: A textbook for students of grades 10-11. - M., 1995; Panov M.I. Rhetoric from antiquity to the present day // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997. - P. 31-32; Freidenberg O.M. Metaphor // Freidenberg O.M. Myth and literature of antiquity. - M., 1978; Encyclopedic Dictionary of Young Literary Critics: For Wednesdays and Seniors. school age / Comp. IN AND. Novikov. - M., 1988. - P. 167-169. M.I. Panov