Tag Archives: Artistic techniques. Why are artistic techniques needed in literature?

Artistic devices in literature and poetry are called tropes. They are present in any work of a poet or prose writer. Without them, the text could not be called artistic. In art, words are an essential element.

Artistic techniques in literature, why are tropes needed?

Fiction is a reflection of reality, passed through the inner world of the author. A poet or prose writer does not simply describe what he sees around him, in himself, in people. He conveys his individual perception. Each writer will describe the same phenomenon, for example, a thunderstorm or tree blossoms in spring, love or grief, in his own way. Artistic techniques help him in this.

Tropes are usually understood as words or phrases that are used figuratively. With their help, the author creates a special atmosphere in his work, vivid images, achieves expressiveness. They highlight important details in the text, helping the reader pay attention to them. Without this, it is impossible to convey the ideological meaning of the work.

Tropes are seemingly ordinary words consisting of letters used in a scientific article or simply in colloquial speech. However, in a work of art they become magical. For example, the word “wooden” becomes not an adjective characterizing the material, but an epithet revealing the image of the character. Otherwise - impenetrable, indifferent, indifferent.

Such a change becomes possible thanks to the author’s ability to select meaningful associations, to find the exact words to convey his thoughts, emotions, and sensations. It takes a special talent to cope with such a task and create a work of art. Just cramming the text with tropes is not enough. It is necessary to be able to use them so that each carries a special meaning and plays a unique and inimitable role in the test.

Artistic techniques in the poem

The use of artistic techniques in poems is especially relevant. After all, a poet, unlike a prose writer, does not have the opportunity to devote, say, entire pages to describing the image of a hero.

Its “spread” is often limited to a few stanzas. At the same time, it is necessary to convey the immensity. In the poem, literally every word is worth its weight in gold. It shouldn't be redundant. The most common poetic devices:

1. Epithets - they can be parts of speech such as adjectives, participles and sometimes phrases consisting of nouns used in a figurative meaning. Examples of such artistic techniques are “ Golden autumn”, “extinguished feelings”, “king without retinue”, etc. Epithets do not express objective, namely author's description something: an object, character, action or phenomenon. Some of them become persistent over time. They are most often found in folklore works. For example, “clear sun”, “red spring”, “good fellow”.

2. A metaphor is a word or phrase whose figurative meaning allows two objects to be compared to each other based on a common feature. Reception is considered a complex trope. Examples include the following constructions: “a mop of hair” (a hidden comparison of a hairstyle with a mop of hay), “a lake of the soul” (a comparison of a person’s soul with a lake based on a common feature - depth).

3. Personification is an artistic technique that allows you to “revive” inanimate objects. In poetry it is used mainly in relation to nature. For example, “the wind speaks with a cloud,” “the sun gives its warmth,” “winter looked at me harshly with its white eyes.”

4. Comparison has much in common with metaphor, but is not stable and hidden. The phrase usually contains the words “as”, “as if”, “like”. For example - “And like the Lord God, I love everyone in the world,” “Her hair is like a cloud.”

5. Hyperbole is an artistic exaggeration. Allows you to draw attention to certain features that the author wants to highlight and considers them characteristic of something. And therefore he deliberately exaggerates. For example, “a man of giant stature”, “she cried an ocean of tears.”

6. Litotes is the antonym of hyperbole. Its purpose is to downplay, soften something. For example, “an elephant is the size of a dog,” “our life is just a moment.”

7. Metonymy is a trope that is used to create an image based on one of its characteristics or elements. For example, “hundreds of legs ran along the pavement, and hooves hurried nearby,” “the city smokes under the autumn sky.” Metonymy is considered one of the varieties of metaphor, and, in turn, has its own subtype - synecdoche.

Genres (types) of literature

Ballad

A lyric-epic poetic work with a clearly expressed plot of a historical or everyday nature.

Comedy

Type of dramatic work. Displays everything ugly and absurd, funny and absurd, ridicules the vices of society.

Lyric poem

View fiction, emotionally and poetically expressing the author’s feelings.

Peculiarities: poetic form, rhythm, lack of plot, small size.

Melodrama

A type of drama in which the characters are sharply divided into positive and negative.

Novella

A narrative prose genre characterized by brevity, a sharp plot, a neutral style of presentation, lack of psychologism, and an unexpected ending. Sometimes used as a synonym for story, sometimes called a type of story.

A poetic or musical-poetic work characterized by solemnity and sublimity. Famous odes:

Lomonosov: “Ode on the capture of Khotin, “Ode on the day of accession to the All-Russian throne of Her Majesty Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.”

Derzhavin: “Felitsa”, “To Rulers and Judges”, “Nobleman”, “God”, “Vision of Murza”, “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky”, “Waterfall”.

Feature article

The most authentic type of narrative, epic literature, depicting facts from real life.

Song or chant

The most ancient type of lyric poetry. A poem consisting of several verses and a chorus. Songs are divided into folk, heroic, historical, lyrical, etc.

Tale

An epic genre between a short story and a novel, which presents a number of episodes from the life of the hero (heroes). The story is larger in scope than a short story and depicts reality more broadly, depicting a chain of episodes that make up a certain period in the life of the main character. It contains more events and characters than a short story. But unlike a novel, a story usually has one storyline.

Poem

A type of lyric epic work, a poetic plot narrative.

Play

The general name for dramatic works (tragedy, comedy, drama, vaudeville). Written by the author for performance on stage.

Story

Small epic genre: a prose work of small volume, which, as a rule, depicts one or more events in the hero’s life. The circle of characters in the story is limited, the action described is short in time. Sometimes a work of this genre may have a narrator. The masters of the story were A.P. Chekhov, V.V. Nabokov, A.P. Platonov, K.G. Paustovsky, O.P. Kazakov, V.M. Shukshin.

Novel

Big epic work, which comprehensively depicts the lives of people during a specific period of time or over the course of an entire human life.

Characteristic properties of the novel:

Multilinearity of the plot, covering the fates of a number of characters;

The presence of a system of equivalent characters;

Coverage great circle life phenomena, public staging significant problems;

Significant duration of action.

Examples of novels: “The Idiot” by F.M. Dostoevsky, “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev.

Tragedy

A type of dramatic work telling about the unfortunate fate of the main character, often doomed to death.

Epic

The largest genre of epic literature, an extensive narrative in verse or prose about outstanding national historical events.

There are:

1. ancient folklore epics different nations- works on mythological or historical subjects, telling about the heroic struggle of the people against the forces of nature, foreign invaders, witchcraft, etc.

2. a novel (or a series of novels) depicting long period historical time or a significant, fateful event in the life of a nation (war, revolution, etc.).

The epic is characterized by:
- wide geographical coverage,
- a reflection of the life and everyday life of all layers of society,
- nationality of content.

Examples of epics: “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, “Quiet Don” by M.A. Sholokhov, “The Living and the Dead” by K.M. Simonov, “Doctor Zhivago” by B.L. Pasternak.

Literary and poetic devices

Allegory

Allegory is the expression of abstract concepts through concrete artistic images.

Examples of allegory:

The stupid and stubborn are often called the Donkey, the coward - the Hare, the cunning - the Fox.

Alliteration (sound writing)

Alliteration (sound writing) is the repetition of identical or homogeneous consonants in a verse, giving it a special sound expressiveness (in versification). In this case, the high frequency of these sounds in a relatively small speech area is of great importance.

However, if entire words or word forms are repeated, as a rule, we are not talking about alliteration. Alliteration is characterized by irregular repetition of sounds, and this is precisely the main feature of this literary device.

Alliteration differs from rhyme primarily in that the repeating sounds are not concentrated at the beginning and end of the line, but are absolutely derivative, albeit with high frequency. The second difference is the fact that, as a rule, consonant sounds are alliterated. The main functions of the literary device of alliteration include onomatopoeia and the subordination of the semantics of words to associations that evoke sounds in humans.

Examples of alliteration:

"Where the grove neighs, guns neigh."

"About a hundred years
grow
we don't need old age.
Year to year
grow
our vigor.
Praise,
hammer and verse,
land of youth."

(V.V. Mayakovsky)

Anaphora

Repeating words, phrases, or combinations of sounds at the beginning of a sentence, line, or paragraph.

For example:

« Not intentionally the winds were blowing,

Not intentionally there was a thunderstorm"

(S. Yesenin).

Black ogling the girl

Black maned horse!

(M. Lermontov)

Quite often anaphora, like literary device, forms a symbiosis with such a literary device as gradation, that is, increasing the emotional character of words in the text.

For example:

“Cattle die, a friend dies, a man himself dies.”

Antithesis (opposition)

Antithesis (or opposition) is a comparison of words or phrases that are sharply different or opposite in meaning.

Antithesis allows us to produce special strong impression on the reader, to convey to him the author’s strong excitement due to the rapid change of concepts of opposite meaning used in the text of the poem. Also, opposing emotions, feelings and experiences of the author or his hero can be used as an object of opposition.

Examples of antithesis:

I swear first on the day of creation, I swear by it last in the afternoon (M. Lermontov).

Who was nothing, he will become everyone.

Antonomasia

Antonomasia is an expressive means, when used, the author uses a proper name instead of a common noun to figuratively reveal the character of the character.

Examples of antonomasia:

He is Othello (instead of "He is very jealous")

A stingy person is often called Plyushkin, an empty dreamer - Manilov, a person with excessive ambitions - Napoleon, etc.

Apostrophe, address

Assonance

Assonance is a special literary device that consists of repeating vowel sounds in a particular statement. This is the main difference between assonance and alliteration, where consonant sounds are repeated. There are two slightly different uses of assonance.

1) Assonance is used as an original tool that gives an artistic text, especially poetic text, a special flavor. For example:

Our ears are on top of our heads,
A little morning the guns lit up
And the forests are blue tops -
The French are right there.

(M.Yu. Lermontov)

2) Assonance is widely used to create imprecise rhyme. For example, “hammer city”, “incomparable princess”.

One of the textbook examples of the use of both rhyme and assonance in one quatrain is an excerpt from the poetic work of V. Mayakovsky:

I won’t turn into Tolstoy, but into a fat man -
I eat, I write, I’m a fool from the heat.
Who hasn't philosophized over the sea?
Water.

Exclamation

An exclamation can appear anywhere in a work of poetry, but, as a rule, authors use it, emphasizing it intonationally. emotional moments in verse. At the same time, the author focuses the reader’s attention on the moment that particularly excited him, telling him his experiences and feelings.

Hyperbola

Hyperbole is a figurative expression containing an exorbitant exaggeration of the size, strength, or significance of an object or phenomenon.

Example of a hyperbole:

Some houses are as long as the stars, others as long as the moon; baobabs to the skies (Mayakovsky).

Inversion

From lat. inversio - permutation.

Changing the traditional word order of a sentence to make the phrase more expressive shade, intonation highlighting of a word.

Inversion examples:

The lonely sail is white
In the blue sea fog... (M.Yu. Lermontov)

The traditional order requires a different structure: A lonely sail is white in the blue fog of the sea. But this will no longer be Lermontov or his great creation.

Another great Russian poet, Pushkin, considered inversion one of the main figures of poetic speech, and often the poet used not only contact, but also remote inversion, when, when rearranging words, other words are wedged between them: “The old man obedient to Perun alone...”.

Inversion in poetic texts performs an accent or semantic function, a rhythm-forming function for building a poetic text, as well as the function of creating a verbal-figurative picture. In prose works, inversion serves to place logical stresses, to express the author’s attitude towards the characters and to convey their emotional state.

Irony

Irony is a powerful means of expression that has a hint of mockery, sometimes slight mockery. When using irony, the author uses words with opposite meanings so that the reader himself guesses about the true properties of the described object, object or action.

Pun

A play on words. A witty expression or joke based on the use of words that sound similar but have different meanings or different meanings of one word.

Examples of puns in literature:

A year for three clicks for you on the forehead,
Give me some boiled food spelt.
(A.S. Pushkin)

And previously served me poem,
Broken string, poem.
(D.D. Minaev)

Spring will drive anyone crazy. Ice - and that got under way.
(E. Meek)

Litotes

The opposite of hyperbole, a figurative expression containing an exorbitant understatement of the size, strength, or significance of any object or phenomenon.

Example of litotes:

The horse is led by the bridle by a peasant in big boots, a short sheepskin coat, and large mittens... and he himself from marigold! (Nekrasov)

Metaphor

Metaphor is the use of words and expressions in a figurative sense based on some kind of analogy, similarity, comparison. Metaphor is based on similarity or resemblance.

Transferring the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on their similarity.

Examples of metaphors:

Sea problems.

Eyes are burning.

Boiling desire.

Noon was burning.

Metonymy

Examples of metonymy:

All flags will be visiting us.

(here flags replace countries).

I'm three dishes ate.

(here the plate replaces the food).

Address, apostrophe

Oxymoron

A deliberate combination of contradictory concepts.

Look, she it's fun to be sad

Such elegantly naked

(A. Akhmatova)

Personification

Personification is the transference of human feelings, thoughts and speech to inanimate objects and phenomena, as well as to animals.

These signs are selected according to the same principle as when using metaphor. Ultimately, the reader has a special perception of the described object, in which the inanimate object has the image of a certain living being or is endowed with qualities inherent in living beings.

Impersonation examples:

What, a dense forest,

Got thoughtful,
Sadness dark
Foggy?

(A.V. Koltsov)

Be careful of the wind
From the gate came out,

Knocked through the window,
Ran on the roof...

(M.V.Isakovsky)

Parcellation

Parcellation is a syntactic technique in which a sentence is intonationally divided into independent segments and highlighted in writing as independent sentences.

Parcelation example:

“He went too. To the store. Buy cigarettes” (Shukshin).

Periphrase

A paraphrase is an expression that conveys the meaning of another expression or word in a descriptive form.

Examples of paraphrase:

King of beasts(instead of a lion)
Mother of Russian rivers(instead of Volga)

Pleonasm

Verbosity, the use of logically unnecessary words.

Examples of pleonasm in everyday life:

In May month(suffice it to say: in May).

Local aborigine (suffice it to say: aborigine).

White albino (suffice it to say: albino).

I was there personally(suffice it to say: I was there).

In literature, pleonasm is often used as a stylistic device, a means of expression.

For example:

Sadness and melancholy.

Sea ocean.

Psychologism

An in-depth depiction of the hero’s mental and emotional experiences.

Refrain

A repeated verse or group of verses at the end of a song verse. When a refrain extends to an entire stanza, it is usually called a chorus.

A rhetorical question

A sentence in the form of a question to which no answer is expected.

Example:

Or is it new for us to argue with Europe?

Or is the Russian unaccustomed to victories?

(A.S. Pushkin)

Rhetorical appeal

An appeal addressed to an abstract concept, an inanimate object, an absent person. A way to enhance the expressiveness of speech, to express an attitude towards a particular person or object.

Example:

Rus! where are you going?

(N.V. Gogol)

Comparisons

Comparison is one of the expressive techniques, when used, certain properties that are most characteristic of an object or process are revealed through similar qualities of another object or process. In this case, such an analogy is drawn so that the object whose properties are used in comparison is better known than the object described by the author. Also, inanimate objects, as a rule, are compared with animate ones, and the abstract or spiritual with the material.

Comparison example:

then my life sang - howled -

Buzzed - like the autumn surf –

And she cried to herself.

(M. Tsvetaeva)

Symbol

Symbol- an object or word that conventionally expresses the essence of a phenomenon.

The symbol contains a figurative meaning, and in this way it is close to a metaphor. However, this closeness is relative. Symbol contains a certain secret, a hint that allows one to only guess what is meant, what the poet wanted to say. The interpretation of a symbol is possible not so much by reason as by intuition and feeling. The images created by symbolist writers have their own characteristics; they have a two-dimensional structure. In the foreground there is a certain phenomenon and real details, in the second (hidden) plane there is the inner world of the lyrical hero, his visions, memories, pictures born of his imagination.

Examples of symbols:

dawn, morning - symbols of youth, the beginning of life;

night is a symbol of death, the end of life;

snow is a symbol of cold, cold feeling, alienation.

Synecdoche

Replacing the name of an object or phenomenon with the name of a part of this object or phenomenon. In short, replacing the name of a whole with the name of a part of that whole.

Examples of synecdoche:

Native hearth (instead of “home”).

Floats sail (instead of “a sailboat is sailing”).

“...and it was heard until dawn,
how he rejoiced Frenchman..." (Lermontov)

(here “French” instead of “French soldiers”).

Tautology

Repetition in other words of what has already been said, which means it does not contain new information.

Examples:

Car tires are tires for a car.

We have united as one.

Trope

A trope is an expression or word used by the author in a figurative, allegorical sense. Thanks to the use of tropes, the author gives the described object or process a vivid characteristic that evokes certain associations in the reader and, as a result, a more acute emotional reaction.

Types of trails:

metaphor, allegory, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, irony.

Default

Silence is a stylistic device in which the expression of a thought remains unfinished, is limited to a hint, and the speech that has begun is interrupted in anticipation of the reader’s guess; the speaker seems to announce that he will not talk about things that do not require detailed or additional explanation. Often the stylistic effect of silence is that unexpectedly interrupted speech is complemented by an expressive gesture.

Default examples:

This fable could be explained more -

Yes, so as not to irritate the geese...

Gain (gradation)

Gradation (or amplification) is a series of homogeneous words or expressions (images, comparisons, metaphors, etc.) that consistently intensify, increase or, conversely, reduce the semantic or emotional significance of the conveyed feelings, expressed thoughts or described events.

Example of ascending gradation:

Not I'm sorry Not I'm calling Not I'm crying...

(S. Yesenin)

In sweetly misty care

Not an hour, not a day, not a year will leave.

(E. Baratynsky)

Example of descending gradation:

He promises him half the world, and France only for himself.

Euphemism

A neutral word or expression that is used in conversation to replace other expressions that are considered indecent or inappropriate in a given case.

Examples:

I'm going to powder my nose (instead of going to the toilet).

He was asked to leave the restaurant (instead, He was kicked out).

Epithet

A figurative definition of an object, action, process, event. An epithet is a comparison. Grammatically, an epithet is most often an adjective. However, other parts of speech can also be used, for example, numerals, nouns or verbs.

Examples of epithets:

velvet leather, crystal ringing

Epiphora

Repeating the same word at the end of adjacent segments of speech. The opposite of anaphora, in which words are repeated at the beginning of a sentence, line, or paragraph.

Example:

“Scallops, all scallops: a cape from scallops, on the sleeves scallops, Epaulettes from scallops..." (N.V.Gogol).

Plot. Plot elements

Plot A literary work is a logical sequence of actions of the characters.

Plot elements:

exposition, beginning, climax, resolution.

Exposition- introductory, initial part of the plot, preceding the plot. Unlike the plot, it does not affect the course of subsequent events in the work, but outlines the initial situation (time and place of action, composition, relationships of characters) and prepares the reader’s perception.

The beginning- the event from which the development of action in the work begins. Most often, conflict is outlined in the beginning.

Climax- the moment of the highest tension of the plot action, in which the conflict reaches a critical point in its development. The climax can be a decisive clash between the heroes, a turning point in their fate, or a situation that reveals their characters as fully as possible and especially clearly reveals a conflict situation.

Denouement – final scene; the position of the characters that has developed in the work as a result of the development of the events depicted in it.

Elements of Drama

Remarque

An explanation given by the author in a dramatic work, describing how he imagines the appearance, age, behavior, feelings, gestures, intonations of the characters, and the situation on stage. Directions are instructions for the performers and the director staging the play, an explanation for readers.

Replica

An utterance is a phrase a character says in response to the words of another character.

Dialogue

Communication, conversation, statements of two or more characters, whose remarks follow in turn and have the meaning of actions.

Monologue

The speech of a character addressed to himself or to others, but, unlike dialogue, does not depend on their remarks. A way to reveal the character’s state of mind, show his character, and introduce the viewer to the circumstances of the action that were not embodied on stage.

Related information.

What can you wish for a person who wants to engage in literary work? Firstly, inspiration and dreams. Without this, any creativity is unthinkable. This is the only way craft becomes art! However, in order for a person to start writing, he should a priori read a lot. Initial techniques literary reading are studied in high school. It is important to understand the actual content of the work, its main ideas, motives and feelings that drive the characters. Based on this, it is made holistic analysis. In addition, your own life experience plays a significant role.

The role of literary devices

To the Adept literary activity You should carefully and moderately use standard techniques (epithets, comparisons, metaphors, irony, allusions, puns, etc.). The secret that is somehow rarely shared is that they are secondary. Indeed, mastering the ability to write works of fiction is often interpreted by criticism as the ability to use certain literary techniques.

What will give awareness and understanding of their essence to the writer and to the person writing? Let us answer figuratively: approximately the same as what fins will give to someone who is trying to swim. If a person does not know how to swim, fins are useless to him. That is, stylistic linguistic tricks cannot serve as an end in themselves for the author. It is not enough to know what literary devices are called. You must be able to captivate people with your thoughts and imagination.

Metaphors

Let's define the main literary devices. Metaphors represent appropriate creative replacement of the properties of one subject or object with the properties of another. This trope achieves an unusual and fresh look at the details and episodes of the work. An example is the well-known metaphors of Pushkin (“fountain of love”, “along the mirror of rivers”) and Lermontov (“the sea of ​​life”, “splashing tears”).

Indeed, poetry is the most creative path for lyrical natures. Perhaps this is why the literary devices in the poem are most noticeable. It is no coincidence that some artistic prose works called prose in verse. This is what Turgenev and Gogol wrote.

Epithets and comparisons

What are literary devices such as epithets? The writer V. Soloukhin called them “clothing of words.” If we talk about the essence of the epithet very briefly, it is the very word that characterizes the essence of an object or phenomenon. Let us give examples: “stately birch”, “golden hands”, “quick thoughts”.

Comparison as an artistic technique allows us to compare social actions with natural phenomena to increase expressiveness. It can be easily noticed in the text by the characteristic words “as”, “as if”, “as if”. Often comparison acts as a deep creative reflection. Let us remember the quote from the famous poet and publicist of the 19th century Pyotr Vyazemsky: “Our life in old age is like a worn-out robe: it’s both a shame to wear it and a pity to leave it.”

Pun

What is the name of the literary device that uses wordplay? We are talking about the use of homonyms and polysemantic words in works of art. This is how jokes that are well known to everyone and loved by all people are created. Such words are often used by classics: A.P. Chekhov, Omar Khayyam, V. Mayakovsky. As an example, here is a quote from Andrei Knyshev: “Everything in the house was stolen, and even the air was somehow stale.” Isn't that a witty saying?

However, those who are interested in the name of the literary device with a play on words should not think that a pun is always comical. Let us illustrate this with the well-known thought of N. Glazkov: “Criminals are also attracted to good, but, unfortunately, to someone else’s.”

However, we admit that there are still more anecdotal situations. Another pun immediately comes to mind - the comparison of a criminal with a flower (the first is first grown and then planted, and the second - vice versa).

Be that as it may, the literary device of word play came from common speech. It is no coincidence that the Odessa humor of Mikhail Zhvanetsky is rich in puns. Isn’t it a wonderful phrase from the maestro of humor: “The car was collected... in a bag.”

Able to make puns. Go for it!

If you really have a bright sense of humor, then the literary device of wordplay is your know-how. Work on quality and originality! A master of creating unique puns is always in demand.

In this article we limited ourselves to the interpretation of only some of the tools of writers. In fact, there are many more of them. For example, a technique such as metaphor contains personification, metonymy (“he ate three plates”).

Literary device parabola

Writers and poets often use tools that sometimes have simply paradoxical names. For example, one of the literary devices is called “parabola”. But literature is not Euclidean geometry. The ancient Greek mathematician, the creator of two-dimensional geometry, would probably have been surprised to learn that the name of one of the curves also found literary application! Why does this phenomenon occur? The reason is probably the properties of the parabolic function. The array of its meanings, coming from infinity to the starting point and going to infinity, is similar to the figure of speech of the same name. That's why one of the literary devices is called "parabola".

This genre form is used for the specific organization of the entire narrative. Let's remember Hemingway's famous story. It is written according to laws similar to the geometric figure of the same name. The narrative begins as if from afar - with a description of the difficult life of fishermen, then the author tells us the very essence - the greatness and invincibility of the spirit specific person- the Cuban fisherman Santiago, and then the story again goes into infinity, acquiring the pathos of a legend. In a similar way, Kobo Abe wrote the parable novel “The Woman in the Sand,” and Gabriel García Márquez wrote “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

It is obvious that the literary device of the parabola is more global than those previously described by us. To notice its use by a writer, it is not enough to read a certain paragraph or chapter. To do this, you should not only read the entire work, but also evaluate it from the point of view of the development of the plot, the images revealed by the author, and general issues. It is these methods of analyzing a literary work that will allow, in particular, to determine the fact of the writer’s use of a parabola.

Creativity and artistic techniques

When is it useless for a person to undertake literary work? The answer is extremely specific: when he does not know how to express a thought in an interesting way. You shouldn’t start writing armed with knowledge if others don’t listen to your stories, if you don’t have inspiration. Even if you use spectacular literary devices, they will not help you.

Let's say it's found interesting topic, there are characters, there is an exciting (in the subjective opinion of the author) plot... Even in such a situation, we recommend taking a simple test. You must arrange it for yourself. See if you can interest a well-known person whose interests you perfectly represent with the idea of ​​your work. After all, types of people repeat themselves. Once you get one person interested, you can get tens of thousands interested...

About creativity and composition

The author, of course, should stop and not continue writing if he subconsciously associates himself in relation to the readers with either a shepherd, or a manipulator, or a political strategist. You cannot humiliate your audience with subconscious superiority. Readers will notice this, and the author will not be forgiven for such “creativity.”

Talk to the audience simply and evenly, as equals to equals. You must interest the reader with every sentence, every paragraph. It is important that the text is exciting, carrying ideas that interest people.

But this is not enough for a person who wants to study literature. It's one thing to tell, another to write. Literary techniques require the author’s ability to build a composition. To do this, he should seriously practice composing a literary text and combining its three main elements: description, dialogue and action. The dynamics of the plot depend on their relationship. And this is very important.

Description

The description carries the function of linking the plot to a specific place, time, season, or set of characters. It is functionally similar to a theater set. Of course, the author initially, even at the conception stage, presents the circumstances of the story in sufficient detail, but they should be presented to the reader gradually, artistically, optimizing the literary techniques used. For example, artistic characterization The author usually gives the character of the work in separate strokes, strokes, presented in various episodes. In this case, epithets, metaphors, and comparisons are used in doses.

After all, in life, too, attention is first paid to striking features (height, build), and only then are eye color, nose shape, etc. considered.

Dialogue

Dialogue is a good way to display the psychotype of the characters in a work. The reader often sees in them a secondary description of personality, character, social status, an assessment of the actions of one character, reflected by the consciousness of another hero of the same work. Thus, the reader gets the opportunity to both in-depth perception of the character (in the narrow sense) and understanding the peculiarities of society in the work created by the writer (in the broad sense). The author's literary techniques in dialogues are top notch. It is in them (an example of this is the work of Viktor Pelevin) that the most striking artistic discoveries and generalizations are obtained.

However, dialogue should be used with double caution. After all, if you overdo it, the work becomes unnatural and the plot becomes rough. Do not forget that the main function of dialogues is communication between the characters in the work.

Action

Action is an essential element for literary narratives. It acts as a powerful authorial element of the plot. In this case, action is not only the physical movement of objects and characters, but also any dynamics of the conflict, for example, when describing a trial.

A warning for beginners: without a clear idea of ​​how to present the action to the reader, you should not start creating a work.

What literary devices are used to describe action? It's best when there are none at all. The action scene in a work, even a fantastic one, is the most consistent, logical, and tangible. It is thanks to this that the reader gets the impression of the documentary nature of the artistically described events. Only real masters of the pen can allow the use of literary techniques when describing an action (remember from Sholokhov’s “ Quiet Don"scene of the appearance of a dazzling black sun before the eyes of Grigory Melekhov, shocked by the death of his beloved).

Literary reception of the classics

As the author’s skill increases, his own image appears behind the lines more and more voluminously and prominently, and literary artistic techniques become more and more refined. Even if the author does not write about himself directly, the reader feels him and unmistakably says: “This is Pasternak!” or “This is Dostoevsky!” What's the secret here?

When starting to create, the writer places his image into the work gradually, carefully, in the background. Over time, his pen becomes more skillful. And the author inevitably goes through in his works creative path from your imagined self to your real self. They are beginning to recognize him by his style. It is this metamorphosis that is the main literary device in the work of every writer and poet.

ARTISTIC TALENT the ability of a person, manifested in artistic creativity, the socially determined unique unity of the emotional and intellectual characteristics of the artist; artistic talent differs from genius (see Artistic genius), which opens up new directions in art. Artistic talent determines the nature and possibilities of creativity, the type of art (or several types of art) chosen by the artist, the range of interests and aspects of the artist’s relationship to reality. At the same time, the artistic talent of an artist is unthinkable without an individual method and style as stable principles for the artistic embodiment of ideas and plans. The individuality of the artist is manifested not only in the work itself, but also exists as a prerequisite for the creation of this work. The artistic talent of an artist can be realized in specific socio-economic and political conditions. Certain eras in the history of human society create the most favorable conditions for the development and realization of artistic talent (classical antiquity, the Renaissance, the Muslim Renaissance in the East).

Recognition of the determining importance of socio-economic and political conditions, as well as the spiritual atmosphere in the realization of artistic talent, does not at all mean their absolutization. The artist is not only a product of the era, but also its creator. An essential property of consciousness is not only reflection, but also transformation of reality. For the realization of artistic talent, the subjective aspects of ability to work, the artist’s ability to mobilize all his emotional, intellectual and volitional forces are of great importance.

PLOT(French sujet subject) a way of artistic comprehension, organization of events (i.e. artistic transformation of the plot). The specificity of a particular plot is clearly revealed not only when comparing it with the real life story, which served as his basis, but also when comparing descriptions of human life in documentary and fiction, memoirs and novels. Distinguishing between the event basis and its artistic reproduction still coming from Aristotle, but a conceptual distinction between the terms was undertaken only in the 20th century. In Russia the word "plot" for a long time was synonymous with the word “theme” (in the theory of painting and sculpture it is still often used in this meaning).

In relation to literature at the end of the last century, it began to mean a system of events, or, according to the definition of A. N. Veselovsky, a sum of motives (i.e., what in another terminological tradition is usually called a plot). Scientists of the Russian “formal school” proposed to consider the plot as a processing, giving form to the primary material - the plot (or, as it was formulated in later works V. B. Shklovsky, plot is a way of artistic comprehension of reality).

The most common way to transform the plot is to destroy the inviolability of the time series, rearrange events, and parallel development of action. A more complex technique is the use of nonlinear connections between episodes. This is a “rhyme”, an associative roll call of situations, characters, sequence of episodes. The text can be based on a collision of different points of view, a comparison of mutually exclusive options for the development of the narrative (A. Murdoch’s novel “The Black Prince”, A. Kayat’s film “Married Life”, etc.). The central theme can develop simultaneously on several levels (social, family, religious, artistic) in the visual, color, and sound ranges.

Some researchers believe that the motivations, the system of internal connections of the work, and methods of narration do not belong to the area of ​​plot, but to composition in the strict sense of the word. The plot is considered as a chain of depicted movements, gestures of spiritual impulses, spoken or “thought” words. In unity with the plot, it formalizes the relationships and contradictions of the characters between themselves and the circumstances, that is, the conflict of the work. In modernist art there is a tendency towards plotlessness (abstract art in painting, plotless ballet, atonal music, etc.).

Plot is important in literature and art. The system of plot connections reveals conflicts and characters of action, which reflect the great problems of the era.

METHODS OF AESTHETIC ANALYSIS (from the Greek methodos - path of research, theory, teaching) - concretization of the basic principles of materialist dialectics in relation to the study of the nature of artistic creativity, aesthetic and artistic culture, various forms of aesthetic development of reality.

The leading principle for the analysis of various spheres of aesthetic exploration of reality is the principle of historicism, most fully developed in the field of the study of arts. It involves both the study of art in connection with its conditioning by reality itself, the comparison of artistic phenomena with extra-artistic ones, the identification of social characteristics that determine the development of art, and the disclosure of system-structural formations within art itself, regarding the independent logic of artistic creativity.

Along with philosophical and aesthetic methodology, which has a certain categorical apparatus, modern aesthetics also uses a variety of techniques, analytical approaches of special sciences, which have an auxiliary value mainly in the study of formalized levels of artistic creativity. Appeal to particular methods and tools of particular sciences (semiotics, structural-functional analysis, sociological, psychological, information approaches, mathematical modeling, etc.) corresponds to the nature of modern scientific knowledge, but these methods are not identical to the scientific methodology of art research, are not “an analogue of the subject” (F. Engels) and cannot claim to be a philosophical and aesthetic method adequate to the nature of the aesthetic development of reality.

CONCEPTUAL ART one of the types of artistic avant-gardeism of the 70s. It is associated with the third stage in the development of avant-gardeism, the so-called. neo-avant-gardeism.

Supporters of conceptual art deny the need to create artistic images (for example, in painting they should be replaced by inscriptions of uncertain content), and see the functions of art in using concepts to activate the process of purely intellectual co-creation.

Products of conceptual art are thought of as absolutely devoid of representation; they do not reproduce s.-l. properties of real objects, being the results of mental interpretation. For the philosophical justification of conceptual art, an eclectic mixture of ideas borrowed from the philosophy of Kant, Wittgenstein, the sociology of knowledge, etc. is used. As a phenomenon of a crisis socio-cultural situation, the new movement is associated with petty-bourgeois anarchism and individualism in the sphere of the spiritual life of society.

CONSTRUCTIVISM (from Latin constructio - construction, construction) - a formalist trend in Soviet art of the 20s, which put forward a program for restructuring the entire artistic culture of society and art, focusing not on imagery, but on the functional, constructive expediency of forms.

Constructivism became widespread in Soviet architecture of the 20-30s, as well as in other forms of art (cinema, theater, literature). Almost simultaneously with Soviet constructivism, the constructivist movement called. Neoplasticism arose in Holland, and similar trends took place in the German Bauhaus. For many artists, constructivism was just a stage in their creativity.

Constructivism is characterized by the absolutization of the role of science and the aestheticization of technology, the belief that science and technology are the only means of solving social and cultural problems.

The constructivist concept went through a number of stages in its development. What the constructivists had in common was: an understanding of a work of art as a material construction created by the artist; struggle for new forms artistic work and the desire to master the aesthetic possibilities of the design. At the final stage of its existence, constructivism entered the period of canonization of its characteristic formal-aesthetic techniques. As a result, the aesthetic possibilities of technical structures, the discovery of which was the undoubted merit of the “pioneers of design,” were absolutized. Constructivists did not take into account the fact that the dependence of form on design is mediated by a set of cultural and historical facts. Their program of “The Social Utility of Art” as a result became a program for its destruction, the reduction of an aesthetic object to a material-physical basis, to pure form-creativity. The cognitive, ideological and aesthetic side of art, its national specificity and imagery as a whole disappeared, which led to pointlessness in art.

At the same time, attempts to identify the laws governing the form of the material and analysis of its combinatorial features (V. Tatlin, K. Malevich) contributed to the development of new approaches to the material and technological side of creativity.

COMPOSITION(lat. compositio arrangement, composition, addition) - method of construction work of art, the principle of connection between similar and heterogeneous components and parts, consistent with each other and with the whole. The composition is determined by the methods of formation and the peculiarities of perception characteristic of a certain type and genre of art, the laws of constructing an artistic model (see) in canonized types of culture (for example, folklore, ancient Egyptian art, Eastern, Western European Middle Ages, etc.), as well as individual originality the artist, the unique content of a work of art in non-canonized types of culture (European art of New and Contemporary times, Baroque, Romanticism, Realism, etc.).

The composition of the work finds its embodiment and is determined by the artistic development of the theme, the moral and aesthetic assessment of the author. It, according to S. Eisenstein, is the naked nerve of the author's intention, thinking and ideology. Indirectly (in music) or more directly (in fine arts) composition correlates with the laws of the life process, with the objective and spiritual world reflected in a work of art. In it, the transition of artistic content and its internal relations into the relation of form takes place, and the orderliness of form into the orderliness of content. To distinguish between the laws of construction of these spheres of art, two terms are sometimes used: architectonics (the relationship of the components of content) and composition (the principles of constructing form). There is another type of differentiation: general shape the structure and interrelation of large parts of a work are called architectonics (for example, stanza in poetic text), and the relationship between more fractional components - compositions (for example, the arrangement of poetic lines and the speech material itself). It should be taken into account that in the theory of architecture and organization of the subject environment, another pair of related concepts is used: design (unity material components forms, achieved by identifying their functions) and composition (artistic completion and emphasis on constructive and functional aspirations, taking into account the characteristics of visual perception and artistic expressiveness, decorativeness and integrity of form).

The concept of composition should be distinguished from that which became widespread in the 60s and 70s. the concept of the structure of a work of art as a stable, repeating principle, a compositional norm of a certain type, kind, genre, style and movement in art. In contrast to structure, composition is the unity, fusion and struggle of normative-typological and individually unique tendencies in the construction of a work of art. The degree of normativity and individual originality, the uniqueness of the composition is different in different types of art (cf. European classicism and “uninhibited” romanticism), in certain genres of the same art form (compositional normativity in tragedy is expressed more clearly than in drama, and in a sonnet immeasurably higher than in a lyrical message). Compositional means are specific in certain types and genres of art, at the same time, there is undoubtedly their mutual influence: the theater mastered the pyramidal and diagonal composition of the plastic arts, and plot-thematic painting - the backstage construction of the stage. Different kinds art, directly and indirectly, consciously and unconsciously, have absorbed compositional principles musical constructions(for example, sonata form) and plastic relationships (see).

In the art of the 20th century. there is a complication of compositional structures due to the increased inclusion of associative links, memories, dreams, through time changes and spatial shifts. The composition also becomes more complex in the process of convergence of traditional and “technical” arts. Extreme forms of modernism absolutize this tendency and give it an irrational and absurd meaning (“ new novel", theaters of the absurd, surrealism, etc.).

In general, composition in art expresses an artistic idea and organizes aesthetic perception in such a way that it moves from one component of the work to another, from part to whole.

INTUITION artistic (from Latin intuitio - contemplation) - the most important element creative thinking, affecting such aspects of artistic

activity and artistic consciousness, such as creativity, perception, truth. In the very general view, when intuition is recognized as equally important in art and science, this is nothing more than a special discernment of truth, which dispenses with reliance on rational forms of knowledge associated with one or another type of logical proof.

The most important thing is artistic intuition in creativity. This is especially evident at the initial stage creative process, so-called " problematic situation" The fact that the result of creativity must be original forces the creative person, already at the very early stage of creativity, to look for a solution that has not been encountered before. It involves a radical revision of established concepts, mental patterns, ideas about man, space and time. Intuitive knowledge, as new knowledge, usually exists in the form of an unexpected guess, a symbolic diagram, in which the contours of a future work are only guessed. However, as many artists admit, this kind of insight forms the basis of the entire creative process.

Aesthetic and especially artistic perception also include elements of artistic intuition. Not only the creation of an artistic image by the creator of art, but also the perception artistic imagery reader, viewer, listener is associated with a certain mood for perception artistic value, which is hidden from superficial observation. In this case, artistic intuition becomes the means by which the perceiver penetrates into the area of ​​artistic significance. In addition, artistic intuition ensures the act of co-creation of the perceiving work of art and its creator.

Until now, much in the operation of the intuitive mechanism seems mysterious and causes great difficulties in its study. Sometimes, on this basis, artistic intuition is attributed to the realm of mysticism and identified with one of the forms of irrationalism in aesthetics. However, the experience of many brilliant artists indicates that thanks to artistic intuition it is possible to create works that deeply and truthfully reflect reality. If the artist does not deviate from the principles of realism in his work, then artistic intuition, which he actively uses, can be considered as a special effective remedy knowledge that does not contradict the criteria of truth and objectivity.

INTRIGUE(from Latin intricare - to confuse) - an artistic technique used to build a plot and plot in various genres fiction, cinema, theatrical arts(confusing and unexpected turns of action, interweaving and clashes of interests of the characters depicted). The idea of ​​the importance of introducing intrigue into the unfolding of the action depicted in dramatic work, was first expressed by Aristotle: “The most important thing with which tragedy captivates the soul is the essence of the plot - twists and turns and recognition.

Intrigue gives the unfolding action a tense and exciting character. With its help, the transfer of complex and conflicting (see) relationships between people in their private and social life. The technique of intrigue is usually widely used in works of the adventure genre. However, this is also used by classical writers in other genres, as is clear from creative heritage great realist writers - Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy and others. Often intrigue is only a means of external entertainment. This is typical for bourgeois, purely commercial art, designed for bad philistine taste. The opposite tendency of bourgeois art is the desire for plotlessness, when intrigue disappears as an artistic device.

ANTITHESIS(Greek antithesis - opposition) - a stylistic figure of contrast, a way of organizing both artistic and non-artistic speech, which is based on the use of words with opposite meaning(antonyms).
Antithesis as a figure of opposition in the system of rhetorical figures has been known since antiquity. Thus, for Aristotle, antithesis is a certain “way of presenting” thought, a means of creating a special - “opposite” - period.

In artistic speech, antithesis has special properties: it becomes an element artistic system, serves as a means of creating an artistic image. Therefore, antithesis is called the opposite of not only words, but also images of a work of art.

As a figure of opposition, antithesis can be expressed by both absolute and contextual antonyms.

And the bright house is alarming
I was left alone with the darkness,
The impossible was possible
But the possible was a dream.
(A. Blok)

ALLEGORY(Greek allegoria - allegory) one of the allegorical artistic techniques, the meaning of which is that an abstract thought or phenomenon of reality appears in a work of art in the form of a concrete image.

By its nature, an allegory is two-part.

On the one hand, this is a concept or phenomenon (cunning, wisdom, good, nature, summer, etc.), on the other, a concrete object, a picture of life, illustrating an abstract thought, making it visual. However, in itself, this picture of life plays only a service role - it illustrates, decorates the idea, and therefore is devoid of “any definite individuality” (Hegel), as a result of which the idea can be expressed by a whole series of “picture illustrations” (A.F. Losev).

However, the connection between the two plans of the allegory is not arbitrary, it is based on the fact that the general exists and manifests itself only in a specific individual object, the properties and functions of which serve as the means of creating the allegory. One can cite as an example the allegories “Fertility” by V. Mukhina or “Dove” by Picasso - an allegory of the world.

Sometimes an idea exists not only as an allegorical plan of an allegory, but is expressed directly (for example, in the form of a fable “moral”). In this form, allegory is especially characteristic of works of art that pursue moral and didactic goals.