Both metaphor and epithet serve to enhance expressiveness, figurativeness and intelligibility. But the epithet serves to emphasize some particular feature of an object or phenomenon that the narrator considers the main one and on which he tries to focus attention. That is, if you want to pay attention to the blackness of the clouds, they say that the cloud is gloomy or the cloud is heavy. Metaphor, on the other hand, personifies an object, endows it with the signs of a living being, for example, a blizzard howls like an animal in Pushkin's poem. The epithet is usually expressed by an adjective, but a noun will necessarily be present in the metaphor. Well, a metaphorical epithet is a construction in which the removal of one element completely changes its perception and meaning. An example of a spring girl, it is worth removing the second half in this epithet, as the word girl, which has nothing to do with spring, will remain.
The metaphor is a figurative comparison, and the epithet decorates.
A metaphor compares an object or phenomenon in an image that the object or phenomenon cannot accept in any way.
And the epithet actually describes the object or action.
The table gives examples and you will agree that the waves cannot speak, but when they roll on each other continuously, then wave upon wave and the conversation of the sea, the conversation of waves, turns out. The quiet sound of the waves or the noisy sound of the waves.
Personally, it is easiest for me to analyze such differences with specific examples than to read huge definitions of certain words. In short, a metaphor is a comparison of someone / something with something else, that is, a figurative meaning, not a literal one. A couple of examples to illustrate:
time stopped,
feelings faded
goes like clockwork
Lermontov's famous metaphor,
also the famous Pushkin metaphor.
And the epithet is the strengthening of any properties with the help of a figurative meaning, usually an epithet is an adjective and a noun. Here are some simple examples:
foggy look,
red girl,
skillful fingers,
second Life,
a forced smile.
All this is a means of artistic expression, it is necessary in order to make the text / speech brighter and more interesting. I will not load with definitions, I will give examples, adding another Personification (also a means of expressing emotions and feelings).
Another example:
My girlfriend is a blooming rose. Here we are dealing with a metaphor, because we transfer the meaning by some kind of similarity (the girl is young, cheerful, perky).
A metaphor is a word or expression used in a figurative sense, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common feature.
definition of a word that affects its expressiveness. It is expressed mainly by an adjective, but also by an adverb (to love passionately), a noun (fun noise), a numeral (second life).
Metaphor is a pictorial note in which the meaning is conveyed by analogy, similarity. The item is compared to another similar item.
An epithet is a special case of a metaphor, a figurative definition, most often expressed by an adjective, but sometimes it can also be an adverb, a noun, a numeral, a verb. The epithet gives an additional artistic characteristic of the subject, through a hidden comparison.
An epithet is a figurative characteristic. Often this name is an adjective, sometimes an adverb, less often a noun and a numeral.
Metaphors are used more often in a figurative sense, they beat the similarity or contrast of phenomena. There is often hyperbole in metaphor.
I have long wanted to deal with the question of the differences between such categories as metaphor, analogy, comparison. Naturally, theoretical constructions are of interest, first of all, with an eye to their practical use. Literary language is unthinkable, from the point of view of figurativeness, without metaphors, comparisons and all sorts of other tropes that exist in any living, including colloquial, branch of the language.
Moreover, perhaps readers have already noticed that with a person who does not use the means of figurative mother tongue, to communicate, at least, uninteresting. It is the lack of figurativeness, metaphor, if you like, that so quickly repels the reader of scientific texts, although the abundance of incomprehensible words also plays an important role there. And, perhaps, inquisitive minds have noticed that a scientific text that skillfully operates with analogies remains much better in the head, not to mention the fact that reading it is much more interesting than a dry statement of facts interspersed with furious, ponderous scientific terminology.
But in order to really be able to apply tropes, it is necessary at least to have an idea of the theoretical basis underlying the figurativeness of a living language. And in this article we will try in a simple analytical form to deal with the difficult, by the way, theoretical basis notorious imagery.
Metaphor: what is it
There will be a detailed article on the topic of metaphor on this blog. The obvious importance of this category is quite justified, both from a literary point of view and in the copywriting profession, which, due to the specifics of the activity, is in contact with literary creativity. Therefore, there will be a thorough analysis of the metaphor as a linguistic means of increasing the interest of the end user of the text. But it is precisely this goal that, in the end, is pursued by both the copywriter and the writer.
So, the metaphor, having migrated from Greek through the efforts of Aristotle, in the original language meant the transfer, in particular, of the meaning of the word. In the context of searching for differences between metaphor and the rest of the figures indicated in the title of the article, it will be enough for us to give the simplest definition of metaphor. So, the transfer meant only the ability of one word or a combination of several, as a certain image of an object, to act as a part, or a whole, of the image of a completely different object. The object here is understood in the broadest sense of this meaningful word.
And we will immediately give an example of a metaphor to lubricate the gears of understanding this category. If someone has not noticed, then the metaphor, albeit clumsy, has already taken place. Obviously, in the literal sense, “lubricating the gears” of understanding is somehow not easy for an ordinary person. But in the text, bordering on a claim to literacy, it looks quite legitimate. I hope the example satisfied those who were thirsty for knowledge of blocks of granite literary theory. Now try to count how many metaphors flashed in the previous sentence. Let's move on to an analogy.
Analogy: what is it
Let's go further. Again, pure Greek, this time loosely translated, analogy means equality of relationship. Again, you feel, a dry definition does not allow the quick mind of metaphorical thinking to scatter. It is not clear to say, and you will be absolutely right. Now I'll add the very definition of analogy, and beware, it gets worse. The main thing is to move on, a few examples of analogy and a couple of metaphors will calmly raise the understanding of analogy to a new level. So, analogy is the similarity of objects, phenomena, etc., you can again add this all-encompassing word “objects”, in any of their properties, and in addition, this is knowledge through comparison. Well, how do we take a hit?
A long-awaited example of an analogy. Although no, I will add to the definition that analogies, unlike metaphors, have more specific application: in cognition, in science, etc. In order for a student of any fairly serious discipline to be able to enter, and I seem to have mentioned this a little higher, a competent scientist is simply obliged to use analogies with publicly available material so that the neophyte has the opportunity to assimilate a complex scientific text. Well, one last example. From the history.
Perhaps the reader is already familiar with one of the founding fathers of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener. So his analogy is widely known in technical circles. He transferred an analogy from biology to the field of self-regulating technical systems. Where, as you know, nature has long ago designed a system feedback when the body is rebuilt in accordance with changing external conditions. Having successfully transferred natural self-regulation to the field of technical systems, he laid the foundations for feedback in technology, which, in fact, is a revolution in this area. That's it, gentlemen!
Comparison: what is it
We got to the last trail, which is discussed in the article. Indeed, what looks like a metaphor is a comparison. Judge, comparison is the likening of one object, we recall its widest use, to another object according to one, or several, common features for both. As a matter of fact, as well as for a metaphor, for comparison the game of images is characteristic. They have something in common, adding to both parts of the equation of completeness of meaning, which is required, according to the fundamental definition of the trope. And now, let's leave the desert of definitions and consider examples of comparison.
Stubborn like a lamb. Dumb as a cork. Hard as steel. Grip of steel ... sorry, but the last one is already an example of a metaphor. This is where the fun begins. Analysis. We are trying to separate metaphor from comparison. But in the next part of the article.
Differences: metaphor, analogy, comparison
As for the first pair, everything is quite transparent here, and the difference between metaphor and analogy has already been revealed. It is huge, although I started the article with a secret goal: to reveal precisely the difference between metaphor and analogy, it was this difference that was not entirely obvious to me. Metaphor is a trope, but analogy is not. She, in general, is not a figure of speech, although it is used in semantics. But this is a completely different conversation. Another important difference concerns the use of analogies to simplify the process of cognition, while the metaphor rather complicates this process.
As for metaphor and comparison, the matter is more complicated, since both categories are tropes. And the difference between metaphor and simile is in usage. The first looks more organic in the text, and the whole problem is in the punctuation marks that separate the parts of the comparison equation. There is no such problem for a metaphor, it is concise and at the same time capacious, figurative to no lesser extent. That is why metaphor is so universal, whether it be literary or any other style of speech. Therefore, a lot more will be said about the metaphor. Because the images in the text are a guarantee of cleanliness, freshness, aesthetics. But one must know how to use the projectile of metaphor. So, metaphor, analogy, comparison are important! Therefore, we continue to study the wisdom of literary granite. Until we meet again in exploration.
Metaphor(from other Greek μεταφορ - “transfer”, “figurative meaning”) - a word or expression used in a figurative meaning, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common feature. The term belongs to Aristotle and is associated with his understanding of art as an imitation of life. Aristotle's metaphor, in essence, is almost indistinguishable from hyperbole (exaggeration), from synecdoche, from simple comparison or personification and likening. In all cases, there is a transfer of meaning from one word to another.
So, old age can be called the evening or autumn of life, since all these trinologies are associated according to their common sign of approaching the end: life, day, year. Like other tropes (metonymy, synecdoche), metaphor is not only a phenomenon of poetic style, but also a general linguistic one. thus, it is no longer recognized as figurative, since its original direct meaning has already faded or even been completely lost. This kind of metaphorical origin is revealed in separate, independent words (skates, window, affection, captivating, formidable, advise), but even more often in phrases (mill wings, mountain range, pink dreams, hanging by a thread). On the contrary, an ometaphor, as a phenomenon of style, should be spoken in cases where both direct and figurative meaning is recognized or felt in a word or a combination of words.
- Indirect message in the form of a story or figurative expression A that uses comparison.
- A figure of speech consisting in the use of words and expressions in a figurative sense on the basis of some kind of analogy, similarity, comparison.
There are 4 “elements” in the metaphor:
- category or context,
- An object within a specific category,
- The process by which this object performs a function,
- Applications of this process to real situations, or intersections with them.
Metaphor often becomes an aesthetic end in itself and displaces the original original meaning of the word. In Shakespeare, for example, what is often important is not the original everyday meaning of the utterance, but its unexpected metaphorical meaning - a new meaning. This perplexed Leo Tolstoy, who had been brought up on the principles of Aristotelian realism. Simply put, metaphor not only reflects life, but also creates it. For example, Major Kovalev's nose in Gogol's general uniform is not only a personification, hyperbole or comparison, but also a new meaning that did not exist before. Futurists did not strive for the plausibility of the metaphor, but for its maximum removal from the original meaning. For example, "a cloud in your pants." Researchers note the relatively rare use of metaphor in Soviet fiction, although there is no need to talk about her “exile” (see, for example: “So we parted. The clatter was silent, and the field was empty” (A. Gaidar, “The Fate of a Drummer”). In the 1970s, a group of poets appeared, inscribed on their banner "metaphor in a square" or "meta-metaphor" (the term of Konstantin Kedrov). A distinctive feature of metaphor is its constant participation in the development of language, speech and culture in general. This is due to the formation of a metaphor under the influence of modern sources of knowledge and information, the use metaphors in the definition of objects of technical achievements of mankind.
Types of metaphors
AT modern theory metaphors are commonly distinguished diaphora(a sharp, contrasting metaphor) and epiphora(a familiar, worn out metaphor).
- A sharp metaphor is a metaphor that brings together concepts that are far apart. Model: stuffing statements.
- An erased metaphor is a generally accepted metaphor, the figurative nature of which is no longer felt. Model: chair leg.
- The metaphor-formula is close to the erased metaphor, but differs from it in even greater stereotype and sometimes the impossibility of converting into a non-figurative construction. Model: Doubt Worm.
- An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is consistently implemented throughout a large fragment of a message or the entire message as a whole. Model: Book hunger continues: products from the book market are increasingly stale - they have to be thrown away without even trying.
- A realized metaphor involves operating a metaphorical expression without taking into account its figurative nature, that is, as if the metaphor had a direct meaning. The result of the realization of a metaphor is often comical. Model: I lost my temper and got on the bus.
theories
Among other tropes, metaphor occupies a central place, as it allows you to create capacious images based on vivid, unexpected associations. Metaphors can be based on the similarity of the most diverse features of objects: color, shape, volume, purpose, position, etc.
According to the classification proposed by N. D. Arutyunova, metaphors are divided into
- nominative, consisting in replacing one descriptive meaning with another and serving as a source of homonymy;
- figurative metaphors that serve the development of figurative meanings and synonymous means of language;
- cognitive metaphors resulting from a shift in the combination of predicate words (meaning transfer) and creating polysemy;
- generalizing metaphors (as the end result of a cognitive metaphor), erasing the boundaries between logical orders in the lexical meaning of the word and stimulating the emergence of logical polysemy.
Comparison
Comparison- a path in which there is an assimilation of one object or phenomenon to another according to some common feature for them. The purpose of comparison is to reveal new, important properties that are advantageous for the subject of the statement in the object of comparison.
Comparison is always binomial: it names both compared objects.
In comparison, they distinguish: the compared object (object of comparison), the object with which the comparison takes place (means of comparison), and their common feature (base of comparison, comparative sign, lat. tertium comparisonis). One of distinguishing features comparison, is the mention of both compared objects, while the common feature is not always mentioned. Comparison must be distinguished from metaphor.
Has a formal indicator: unions ( as, as if, as if, exactly), prepositions ( like, like, like), lexical means ( similar, resembling, resembling, resembling). In comparison, the instrumental case of a noun is used, the so-called instrumental comparison: Frost beats a wounded bear (N. Aseev). There are general language comparisons ( white as snow) and individually-author's: Tea in glasses is liquid, like a December dawn (A. Mariengof).
Along with simple comparisons, in which two phenomena have one common feature, detailed comparisons are used, in which several features serve as the basis for comparison.
Comparisons are characteristic of folklore.
Types of comparison:
known different types comparisons:
- Comparisons in the form of a comparative turnover, formed with the help of unions as if, as if, exactly: "A man is stupid as a pig, but cunning as hell."
- Non-union comparisons - in the form of a sentence with a compound nominal predicate: "My house is my fortress."
- Comparisons formed with the help of a noun in the instrumental case: "he walks like a gogol."
- Negative comparisons: "Trying is not torture."
Comparison
Comparison is a trope in which one object or phenomenon is likened to another according to some common feature for them. It underlies the visual system of the language. In comparison, they distinguish: the compared object ( comparison object), the object to be matched with ( comparator), and their common feature ( base of comparison, comparison). One of the distinguishing features of the comparison is the mention of both compared objects, while the common feature is not always mentioned. Main types:
Direct (with unions "as if", "like", "as if" etc.) and
Indirect (non-prepositional with instrumental case).
There are also
Non-union (comparative turnover is expressed in the form of a sentence with a compound nominal predicate; "My house is my fortress"),
Negative (the sign of the difference of objects is emphasized),
- "Homeric" (expanded) comparison, when the author expands the comparison, as if forgetting about the actual objects. Often with Gogol. In the era of sentimentalism, it often became the subject of ridicule of contemporaries.
Comparisons are also divided into: according to the manner of action, according to time and place of the action. Sometimes the action itself is omitted, only comparison is used in the expression, the action must be guessed.
Metaphor
Metaphor - a word or expression used in a figurative sense, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common feature, a hidden comparison. D.N. Ushakov highlights two main models by which metaphors are formed: personification and reification. personifying metaphors, according to the linguist, are the most ancient in the language, and they are often distinguished into a separate type - personification: “snow lies”, “frost bound the rivers”, “stream runs”.reifying metaphors: " iron will”,“ deep sadness ”,“ flames ”,“ door handle ”(epithets). The close relationship between these concepts makes it possible to speak of syncretism means of expression language.
Metaphors are original, or diaphors, and banal; erased, or epiphora (a forest of hands, go like clockwork, take root), simple and deployed; sometimes an extended metaphor becomes a symbol, as in Lermontov's "Sail". Each metaphor contains four elements: a category, an object within a category, the process of the object realizing its function, the intersection of this process with the real situation. Poetic metaphor is usually sharper than linguistic metaphor.
Metaphor often becomes an aesthetic end in itself and displaces the original original meaning of the word. In Shakespeare, for example, what is often important is not the original everyday meaning of the statement, but its unexpected metaphorical meaning - a new meaning. This perplexed Leo Tolstoy, who had been brought up on the principles of Aristotelian realism. Simply put, metaphor not only reflects life, but also creates it. For example, the Nose of Major Kovalev in Gogol's general uniform is not only a personification, hyperbole or comparison, but also a new meaning that did not exist before. Futurists did not strive for the plausibility of the metaphor, but for its maximum removal from the original meaning. For example, "a cloud in your pants."
There is also another classification of metaphors:
- nominative, consisting in replacing one descriptive meaning with another and serving as a source of homonymy;
- figurative metaphors that serve the development of figurative meanings and synonymous means of language;
- cognitive metaphors resulting from a shift in the combination of predicate words (meaning transfer) and creating polysemy;
- generalizing metaphors (as the end result of a cognitive metaphor), erasing the boundaries between logical orders in the lexical meaning of the word and stimulating the emergence of logical polysemy.