List of artistic means of expression in literature. Means of artistic expression: tropes

ALLEGORY (Greek allegoria - allegory) - a specific image of an object or phenomenon of reality, replacing an abstract concept or thought. A green branch in the hands of a person has long been an allegorical image of the world, a hammer has been an allegory of labor, etc.

ALLITERATION (SOUND WRITTEN) (Latin ad - to, with and littera - letter) - repetition of homogeneous consonants, giving the verse a special intonational expressiveness.

A gorilla came out to them,

The gorilla told them

The gorilla told them,

She sentenced.

(Korney Chukovsky)

ALLUSION (from Latin allusio - joke, hint) - stylistic figure, a hint through a similar-sounding word or mention of a well-known real fact, historical event, literary work.

Example: “the glory of Herostratus”

ASSONANCE (French assonance - consonance or response) - repetition in a line, stanza or phrase of homogeneous vowel sounds.

Oh spring without end and without edge -

An endless and endless dream! (A. Blok)

ANAPHOR (Greek anaphora - removal) - repetition initial words, lines, stanzas or phrases.

You're miserable too

You are also abundant

You're downtrodden

You are omnipotent

Mother Rus'!…

(N.A. Nekrasov)

ANTITHESIS (Greek antithesis - contradiction, opposition) - a sharply expressed opposition of concepts or phenomena.

You are rich, I am very poor;

You are a prose writer, I am a poet;

You are blushing like poppies,

I am like death, skinny and pale. (A.S. Pushkin)

APOCOP (Greek apokope - cutting off) - artificial shortening of a word without losing its meaning.

...When suddenly he came out of the forest

The bear opened its mouth at them...

(A.N. Krylov)

UNION (asyndeton) - a sentence with the absence of unions between homogeneous words or parts of a whole. A figure that gives speech dynamism and richness.

Night, street, lantern, pharmacy,

Pointless and dim light.

Live for at least another quarter of a century -

Everything will be like this. There is no outcome.

HYPERBOLE (Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) is a type of trope based on exaggeration. By means of hyperbole the author strengthens the right impression or emphasizes what it glorifies and what it ridicules.

And prevented the cannonballs from flying

A mountain of bloody bodies.

(M.Yu. Lermontov)

GROTESQUE (French grotesque - whimsical, comical) - an image of people and phenomena in a fantastic, ugly-comic form, based on sharp contrasts and exaggerations.

Enraged, I rush into the meeting like an avalanche,

Spewing wild curses on the way.

And I see: half the people are sitting.

Oh devilishness! Where is the other half?

(V. Mayakovsky)

GRADATION - from lat. gradatio - gradualism) is a stylistic figure in which definitions are grouped in a certain order - increasing or decreasing their emotional and semantic significance. Gradation enhances the emotional sound of the verse.

I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,

Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees. (S. Yesenin)

INVERSION (Latin inversio - rearrangement) is a stylistic figure consisting of a violation of the generally accepted grammatical sequence of speech; rearrangement of parts of a phrase gives it a unique expressive tone.

He passes the doorman with an arrow

Flew up the marble steps

(A. Pushkin)

IRONY (Greek eironeia - pretense) - the expression of ridicule or deceit through allegory. A word or statement acquires a meaning in the context of speech that is opposite to the literal meaning or denies it, casting doubt on it.

Servant of powerful masters,

With what noble courage

Thunder with your free speech

All those who have their mouths covered.

(F.I. Tyutchev)

LITOTA (Greek litotes - simplicity) - a trope opposite to hyperbole; a figurative expression, a turn of phrase that contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength, or significance of the depicted object or phenomenon. Litotes is in folk tales: “a boy as big as a finger”, “a hut on chicken legs”, “a little man as big as a finger”.

Your Pomeranian is a lovely Pomeranian,

No more than a thimble!

(A.S. Griboedov)

METAPHOR (Greek metaphora - transfer) - trope, hidden figurative comparison, transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on common features(“work is in full swing”, “forest of hands”, “dark personality”, “heart of stone”...).

Nineteenth century, iron,

Truly a cruel age!

By you into the darkness of the night, starless

Careless abandoned man!

METONYMY (Greek metonymia - renaming) - trope; replacing one word or expression with another based on similar meanings; the use of expressions in a figurative sense ("foaming glass" - meaning wine in a glass; "the forest is noisy" - meaning trees; etc.).

The theater is already full, the boxes are sparkling;

The stalls and the chairs, everything is boiling...

(A.S. Pushkin)

POLYCONJUNCTION (polysyndeton) - excessive repetition of conjunctions, creating additional intonation coloring.

And it’s boring and sad, and there’s no one to give a hand to...

(M.Yu. Lermontov)

IMAGE is a generalized artistic reflection of reality, clothed in the form of a specific individual phenomenon. Poets think in images.

It is not the wind that rages over the forest,

Streams did not run from the mountains,

Moroz - commander of the patrol

Walks around his possessions.

(N.A. Nekrasov)

OXYMORON (Greek oxymoron - witty-stupid) - a combination of contrasting words with opposite meanings (living corpse, giant dwarf, heat of cold numbers).

That sad joy that I was alive? (S. Yesenin)

PERSONIFICATION (prosopopoeia, personification) - a type of metaphor; transferring the properties of animate objects to inanimate ones (the soul sings, the river plays...).

My bells

Steppe flowers!

Why are you looking at me?

Dark blue?

And what are you calling about?

On a merry day in May,

Among the uncut grass

Shaking your head?

(A.K. Tolstoy)

PARALLELISM (from the Greek parallelos - walking side by side) is an identical or similar arrangement of speech elements in adjacent parts of the text, creating a single poetic image.

The waves splash in the blue sea.

The stars shine in the blue sky.

(A.S. Pushkin)

PARTELLATION is an expressive syntactic technique of intonational division of a sentence into independent segments, graphically highlighted as independent sentences.

“How courteous! Of good! Sweet! Simple!”

(Griboyedov)

TRANSFER (French enjambement - stepping over) - a discrepancy between the syntactic division of speech and the division into poetry. When transferring, the syntactic pause inside a verse or hemistich is stronger than at the end.

Peter comes out. His eyes

They shine. His face is terrible.

The movements are fast. He is beautiful,

He's like God's thunderstorm.

A.S. Pushkin

PERIPHRASE (Greek periphrasis - roundabout turn, allegory) - one of the tropes in which the name of an object, person, phenomenon is replaced by an indication of its characteristics, as a rule, the most characteristic ones, enhancing the figurativeness of speech.

"Sleep, my beautiful baby..."

(M.Yu. Lermontov)

RHETORICAL QUESTION (from the Greek rhetor - speaker) is one of the stylistic figures, such a structure of speech, mainly poetic, in which a statement is expressed in the form of a question. A rhetorical question does not presuppose an answer; it only enhances the emotionality of the statement and its expressiveness.

RHETORICAL EXCLAMATION (from the Greek rhetor - speaker) is one of the stylistic figures, a structure of speech in which this or that concept is affirmed in the form of an exclamation. A rhetorical exclamation sounds emotional, with poetic inspiration and elation.

Yes, to love as our blood loves

None of you have been in love for a long time!

RHETORICAL ADDRESS (from the Greek rhetor - speaker) is one of the stylistic figures. In form, being an appeal, a rhetorical appeal is conditional in nature. It reports poetic speech the desired author's intonation: solemnity, pathos, cordiality, irony, etc.

And you, arrogant descendants

The famous meanness of famous fathers.

(M. Lermontov)

RHYME (Greek “rhythmos” - harmony, proportionality) - a type of epiphora; the consonance of the ends of poetic lines, creating a feeling of their unity and kinship. Rhyme emphasizes the boundary between verses and links verses into stanzas.

SARCASM (Greek sarkazo, lit. - tearing meat) - contemptuous, caustic ridicule; highest degree irony.

SYNECDOCHE (Greek synekdoche - correlation) is one of the tropes, a type of metonymy, consisting in transferring meaning from one object to another based on the quantitative relationship between them. Synecdoche is an expressive means of typification. The most common types of synecdoche:

And there are pea coats at the door,

overcoats, sheepskin coats...

(V. Mayakovsky)

COMPARISON is a word or expression containing the likening of one object to another, one situation to another.

The storm covers the sky with darkness,

Whirling snow whirlwinds;

The way the beast will howl,

Then he will cry like a child... (A.S. Pushkin)

SILENCE - unspokenness, reticence. A deliberate break in a statement that conveys the emotion of the speech and assumes that the reader will guess what was said.

I do not love, O Rus', your timid

Thousands of years of slave poverty.

But this cross, but this ladle is white...

Humble, dear features!

(I.A. Bunin)

ELLIPSIS (Greek elleipsis - loss, omission) is a figure of poetic syntax based on the omission of one of the members of a sentence, easily restored in meaning (most often the predicate). This achieves dynamism and conciseness of speech and conveys a tense change of action.

We sat down in ashes, cities in dust,

Swords include sickles and plows.

EPITHET (Greek epitheton - appendix) - a figurative definition that gives an additional artistic characteristic to someone or something,” a word that defines an object or phenomenon and emphasizes any of its properties, qualities or characteristics. A feature expressed by an epithet, as if attaches to the subject, enriching it semantically and emotionally.

But I love, golden spring,

Your continuous, wonderfully mixed noise;

You rejoice, without stopping for a moment,

Like a child without care and thoughts... (N. Nekrasov)

EPIPHOR (Greek epiphora - repetition) - a stylistic figure opposite to anaphora: repetition last words or phrases. Rhyme is a type of epiphora (repetition of the last sounds).

The guests came ashore

Tsar Saltan invites them to visit... (A.S. Pushkin)

hyperbole exaggeration character

You've probably heard more than once that Russian is one of the most difficult languages. Why? It's all about the design of the speech. Means of expression make our words richer, poems more expressive, prose more interesting. It is impossible to clearly convey thoughts without using special lexical figures, because the speech will sound poor and ugly.

Let's figure out what types of expressive means the Russian language is and where to find them.

Perhaps at school you wrote essays poorly: the text “didn’t flow”, the words were chosen with difficulty, and it was generally unrealistic to finish the presentation with a clear thought. The fact is that the necessary syntactic means are put into the head by reading books. However, they alone are not enough to write interestingly, colorfully and easily. You need to develop your skill through practice.

Just compare the next two columns. On the left is text without means of expression or with a minimal amount of them. On the right is text rich in expressiveness. These are often found in the literature.

It would seem like three banal sentences, but how interesting they can be described! Expressive means languages ​​help the viewer see the picture you are trying to describe. There is an art to using them, but it is not difficult to master. It is enough to read a lot and pay attention to the interesting techniques used by the author.

For example, in the paragraph of text on the right, epithets are used, thanks to which the subject is instantly presented as bright and unusual. What will the reader remember better - an ordinary cat or a fat commander cat? Rest assured that the second option will probably be more to your liking. And there won’t be such embarrassment that in the middle of the text the cat will suddenly be white, but the reader has long imagined it as gray!

So, syntactic means are special techniques of artistic expression that prove, justify, depict information and engage the imagination of the reader or listener. This is extremely important not only for writing, but also for oral speech. Especially if the speech or text is written in . However, in both cases, the means of expression in the Russian language should be in moderation. Do not oversaturate the reader or listener with them, otherwise he will quickly get tired of making his way through such a “jungle”.

Existing means of expression

There are a lot of such special techniques, and it is unlikely that you know everything about them. Let's start with the fact that you don't need to use all means of expressiveness at once - this makes speech difficult. You need to use them in moderation, but not skimp. Then you will achieve the desired effect.

Traditionally they are divided into several groups:

• phonetic - most often found in poems;
• lexical (tropes);
• stylistic figures.

Let's try to deal with them in order. And to make it more convenient for you, after the explanation, all the expressive means of the language are presented in convenient tablets - you can print them out and hang them on the wall so that you can re-read them from time to time. This way you can learn them unobtrusively.

Phonetic techniques

Among phonetic techniques, the two most common are alliteration and assonance. They differ only in that in the first case the consonants are repeated, in the second - the vowels.

This technique is very convenient to use in poems when there are few words, but you need to convey the atmosphere. Yes, and poetry is most often read aloud, and assonance or alliteration helps to “see” the picture.

Suppose we need to describe a swamp. In the swamp there are reeds that rustle. The beginning of the line is ready - the reeds rustle. We can already hear this sound, but this is not enough to complete the picture.

Do you hear the reeds seem to rustle and hiss silently? Now we can feel this atmosphere. This technique is called alliteration - consonant letters are repeated.

Likewise with assonance, repetition of vowels. This one is a little easier. For example: I hear a spring thunderstorm, then I fall silent, then I sing. With this, the author conveys a lyrical mood and spring sadness. The effect is achieved through the skillful use of vowels. A table will help explain what assonance is.

Lexical devices (tropes)

Lexical devices are used much more often than other means of expression. The fact is that people often use them unconsciously. For example, we can say that our heart is lonely. But the heart cannot actually be lonely, it is just an epithet, a means of expression. However, such expressions help emphasize the deeper meaning of what is being said.

The main lexical devices include the following tropes:

• epithet;
• comparison as a means of expressive speech;
• metaphor;
• metonymy;
• irony;
• hyperbole and litotes.

Sometimes we use these lexical units unconsciously. For example, comparison pops up in everyone’s speech - this means of expressiveness has become firmly established in everyday life, so it must be used wisely.

Metaphor - more interesting shape comparisons, because we do not compare slow death with cigarettes using the word “as if”. We already understand that slow death is a cigarette. Or, for example, the expression “dry clouds”. Most likely, this means that it has not rained for a long time. Epithet and metaphor often overlap, so when analyzing the text it is important not to confuse them.

Hyperbole and litotes are exaggeration and understatement, respectively. For example, the expression “the sun has absorbed the power of a hundred fires” is a clear hyperbole. And “quietly, quieter than a stream” is litotes. These phenomena have also become firmly established in everyday life.

Metonymy and periphrasis – interesting phenomena. Metonymy is a shortening of what is said. For example, there is no need to talk about Chekhov's books as “books that Chekhov wrote.” You can use the expression “Chekhov’s books”, and this will be a metonymy.

And periphrasis is the deliberate replacement of concepts with synonymous ones in order to avoid tautology in the text.

Although, with the right skill, tautology can also be a means of expression!

Lexical means of expressiveness in speech also include:

• archaisms (outdated vocabulary);
• historicisms (vocabulary related to a specific historical period);
• neologisms (new vocabulary);
• phraseological units;
• dialectisms, jargon, aphorisms.

Means of expression	Definition	Example and explanation
Epithet	A definition that helps add color to an image. Often used figuratively.	Bloody sky. (Talks about sunrise.)
Comparison as a means of expressive speech	Comparing objects with each other. They may not be related, but even vice versa.	Means of expression, like expensive jewelry, exalt our speech.
Metaphor	“Hidden comparison” or figurative. More complex than a simple comparison, comparative conjunctions are not used.	Seething anger. (The man gets angry). Sleepy city. (The morning city that has not yet woken up).
Metonymy	Replacing words in order to shorten an understandable sentence or avoid tautology.	I read Chekhov’s books (and not “I read books by Chekhov”).
Irony	An expression with the opposite meaning. Hidden mockery.	You're a genius, of course! (The irony is that here “genius” is used to mean “stupid”).
Hyperbola	Deliberate exaggeration of what was said.	Brighter than a thousand fiery lightning bolts. (Dazzling, bright show).
Litotes	Deliberate reduction of what was said.	Weak as a mosquito.
Periphrase	Replacement of words in order to avoid tautology. Replacement can only be a related word.	The house is a hut on chicken legs, the lion is the king of animals, etc.
Allegory	An abstract concept that helps to reveal an image. Most often it is an established designation.	Fox meaning cunning, wolf meaning strength and rudeness, turtle meaning slowness or wisdom.
Personification	Transferring the properties and feelings of a living object to an inanimate one.	The lantern seemed to be swaying on a long thin leg– he reminded me of a boxer preparing for a swift attack.

Stylistic figures

Stylistic figures often contain special grammatical structures. The most commonly used include:

• anaphora and epiphora;
• compositional joint;
• antithesis;
• oxymoron or paradox;
• inversion;
• parcellation;
• ellipsis;
• rhetorical questions, exclamations, appeals;
• asyndeton.

Anaphora and epiphora are often classified as phonetic devices, but this is an erroneous judgment. Such techniques of artistic expression are pure stylistics. Anaphora is the same beginning of several lines, epiphora is the same ending. Most often they are used in poetry, sometimes in prose, to emphasize drama and growing anxiety, or to enhance the poetry of the moment.

A compositional junction is a deliberate “escalation” of a conflict. The word is used at the end of one sentence and at the beginning of the next. It gave me everything, the word. The Word helped me become who I am. This technique is called a compositional junction.

Antithesis is the opposition of two antipodal concepts: yesterday and today, night and day, death and life. Interesting techniques include parcellation, which is used to increase conflict and change the pace of the narrative, as well as ellipsis - the omission of a sentence member. Often used in exclamations and calls.

Means of expression	Definition	Example and explanation
Anaphora	The same beginning of several lines.	Let's join hands, brothers. Let's hold hands and connect our hearts. Let us take up swords to end the war.
Epiphora	Same ending for multiple lines.	I wash it wrong! I'm ironing wrong! All wrong!
Compositional joint	One sentence ends with this word, and the second sentence begins with it.	I didn't know what to do. What to do to survive this storm.
Antithesis	Opposition	I came to life every second, but after that I died every evening. (Used to demonstrate drama).
Oxymoron	Using concepts that contradict each other.	Hot ice, peaceful war.
Paradox	An expression that has no direct meaning, but carries an aesthetic meaning.	The hot hands of the dead man were more alive than all the others. Hurry up as slowly as possible.
Inversion	Deliberate rearrangement of words in a sentence.	I was sad that night, I was afraid of everything in this world.
Parcellation	Breaking words down into separate sentences.	He waited. Again. Slouching over, he cried.
Ellipsis	Deliberate omission of a word.	Let's get to work! (the word “let’s take” is missing).
Gradation	Increasing expression, using synonyms according to the degree of increase.	His eyes, cold, emotionless, dead, expressed nothing. (Used to demonstrate drama).

Features of the use of means of expression

We should not forget that gestures are also used in spoken Russian speech. Sometimes they are more eloquent conventional means expressiveness, but in the skillful combination of these figures. Then the role will turn out to be lively, rich and bright.

Do not try to insert as many stylistic or lexical figures into your speech as possible. This will not make the word richer, but it will give you the feeling that you have “put on” too many decorations on yourself, which is why you have become uninteresting. Means of expression are like a skillfully selected accessory. Sometimes you don’t even notice it right away, it is so harmoniously intertwined in a sentence with other words.

Perhaps the most confusing and most complex topic for those who are not friends with literature and verbal figures. If you've never been impressed classic literature, and especially poetry, then, perhaps, familiarity with this topic will allow you to look at many works through the eyes of the author and generate interest in the artistic word.

Paths - verbal turns

Paths make speech brighter and more expressive, more interesting and richer. These are words and their combinations used in a figurative sense, which is why the very expressiveness of the text appears. Paths help convey various shades of emotions, recreate true images and pictures in the mind of the reader; with their help, masters of words evoke certain associations in the mind of the reader.

Along with the syntactic means of language, tropes (related to lexical means) are quite powerful weapon in the literary field. It is worth paying attention to the fact that many paths moved from literary language into colloquial speech. We have become so accustomed to them that we have ceased to notice the indirect meaning of such words, which is why they have lost their expressiveness. It’s a common occurrence: tropes are so “hackneyed” in colloquial speech that they become cliches and cliches. The once expressive phrases " black gold", "brilliant mind", "golden hands".

Classification of tropes

In order to understand and clearly clarify which words and expressions, in what context, are classified as figurative and expressive means of language, let us turn to the following table.

Trails	Definition	Examples
Epithet	Designed to define something artistically (object, action), most often expressed by an adjective or adverb	Turquoise eyes, monstrous character, indifferent sky
Metaphor	Essentially, this is a comparison, but hidden due to the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another	The soul sings, consciousness floats away, the head is buzzing, an icy look, a sharp word
Metonymy	Renaming. This is the transfer of the properties of one object or phenomenon to another based on contiguity	Brew chamomile (not chamomile tea), the school went on a cleanup day (replacing the word “students” with the name of the institution), read Mayakovsky (replacing the work with the name of the author)
Synecdoche (is a type of metonymy)	Transferring the name of an object from part to whole and vice versa	Save a penny (instead of money), the berry is ripe this year (instead of the berry), the buyer is now demanding (instead of buyers)
Hyperbola	A trope based on excessive exaggeration (of properties, dimensions, events, meaning, etc.)	I told you a hundred times, I stood in line all day, I scared you to death
Periphrase	A semantically indivisible expression that figuratively describes a phenomenon or object, indicating its peculiarity (with a negative or positive meaning)	Not a camel, but a ship of the desert, not Paris, but the capital of fashion, not an official, but a clerical rat, not a dog, but a man’s friend
Allegory	Allegory, expression of an abstract concept using a concrete image	Fox - cunning, ant - hard work, elephant - clumsiness, dragonfly - carefree
Litotes	Same as hyperbole, only in reverse. Downplaying something to make it more emphatic	As the cat cried, I earn my penny, thin as a reed
Oxymoron	Combination of incompatible, contrasting, contradictory	Loud silence, back to the future, hot cold, favorite enemy
Irony	Using a word in a sense completely opposite to its meaning for the purpose of ridicule	Come into my mansion (about a small apartment), it will cost you a pretty penny (a lot of money)
Personification	Transferring the properties and qualities of living beings to inanimate objects and concepts to which they are not inherent	The rain is crying, the leaves are whispering, the blizzard is howling, sadness has set in
Antithesis	A trope based on a sharp contrast of any images or concepts	I was looking for happiness in this woman, And I accidentally found death. S. Yesenin
Euphemism	An emotionally and semantically neutral word or combination of words used instead of unpleasant, rude, indecent expressions	The places are not so remote (instead of a prison), he has a unique character (instead of bad, heavy)

From the examples it becomes clear that the figurative and expressive means of language, namely tropes, are used not only in works of art, but also in living spoken language. You don’t have to be a poet to have competent, rich, expressive speech. It's enough to have a good one lexicon and the ability to express thoughts outside the box. Saturate your vocabulary by reading quality literature, it is extremely useful.

Visual means of phonetics

Paths are only part of the arsenal of artistic means of expression. What is designed to specifically influence our hearing is called phonetic figurative and expressive means of language. Once you understand the essence of the phonetic component of the artistry of a language, you begin to look at many things with different eyes. Comes to understand the play on words in poetry school curriculum, once studied “through force,” the poetics and beauty of the syllable are revealed.

Consider examples of use phonetic means expressiveness is best based on classical Russian literature, this is the richest source of alliteration and assonance, as well as other types of sound writing. But it would be wrong to think that examples of figurative and expressive means of language are not found in modern art. Advertising, journalism, songs and poems by modern performers, proverbs, sayings, tongue twisters - all this is an excellent basis for searching for figures of speech and tropes, you just need to learn to hear and see them.

Alliteration, assonance and others

Alliteration is the repetition of identical consonants or their combinations in a poem, which gives the verse sound expressiveness, brightness, and originality. For example, the sound [z] in Vladimir Mayakovsky’s “Cloud in Pants”:

You came in

sharp, like “here!”

mucha suede gloves,

“You know -

I'm getting married".

or right there:

I'll strengthen myself.

See -

how calm!

Like the pulse of a dead man.

Remember?...

And here is a modern example for us. From the singer Utah (“Fall”):

I will smoke and eat bread,

Staring at the dusty lampshade in the hallway...

Assonance - in a special way organized repetition of consonant sounds (usually in a poetic text), which gives the verse musicality, harmony, and songfulness. A skillfully created phonetic device can convey the atmosphere, setting, state of mind and even surrounding sounds. Vladimir Mayakovsky’s carefully crafted assonance carries a tinge of fluid hopelessness:

Your son is beautifully sick!

His heart is on fire.

Tell your sisters

Lyuda and Ole,—

he has nowhere to go.

In any poem, Vladimir Vladimirovich combines figurative and expressive means of a phonetic nature with tropes and syntactic figures. This is the author's uniqueness.

Pun rhymes are combinations of words and sounds based on the similarity of sounds.

The realm of rhymes is my element,

And I write poetry easily,

Without hesitation, without delay

I run to line from line,

Even to the Finnish brown rocks

I'm making a pun.

D. D. Minaev

Syntactic means of expressiveness in language

Epiphora and anaphora, inversion, parcellation and a number of other syntactic means help the master of verbal art to saturate his works with expressiveness, creating an individual style, character, and rhythm.

Some syntactic devices enhance the expressiveness of speech and logically highlight what the author wants to emphasize. Others add dynamism and tension to the narrative, or, conversely, make you stop and think, re-read and feel. Many writers and poets have their own individual style, based specifically on syntax. Suffice it to recall A. Blok:

"Night, street, lantern, pharmacy"

or A. Akhmatova:

"Twenty-one. Night. Monday"

The individual author's style consists, of course, not only of syntax, but also whole set all components: semantic, linguistic, as well as rhythm and vision of reality. But still important role plays what figurative and expressive means of language the artist prefers.

Syntax to aid artistic expression

Inversion (rearrangement, reversal) is the reverse or non-standard order of words in a sentence. In prose it is used to semantically highlight any part of a sentence. IN poetic form may be necessary to create rhyme, focus attention on the most important points. In Marina Tsvetaeva’s poem “An Attempt of Jealousy,” inversion conveys an emotional breakdown:

How are you doing - are you healthy -

Maybe? Sung - how?

With the ulcer of an immortal conscience

How are you coping, poor man?

A. S. Pushkin considered inversion to be perhaps the most important means of poetic expression; his poems are mostly inversion, which is why they are so musical, expressive, and simple.

A rhetorical question in a literary text is one that does not require an answer.

The day was innocent and the wind was fresh.

The dark stars went out.

- Grandmother! - This brutal rebellion

In my heart - isn't it from you?..

A. Akhmatova

In Marina Tsvetaeva’s lyrics, her favorite devices were the rhetorical question and the rhetorical exclamation:

I'll ask for a chair, I'll ask for a bed:

“Why, why do I suffer and suffer?”

I learned to live in the fire itself,

He threw it himself - into the frozen steppe!

That's what you, dear, did to me!

My dear, what have I done to you?

Epiphora, anaphora, ellipse

Anaphora is the repetition of similar or identical sounds, words, phrases at the beginning of each line, stanza, sentence. A classic example is Yesenin’s poems:

I didn't know that love is an infection

I didn't know that love is a plague...

Oh, wait. I don't scold her.

Oh, wait. I don't curse her...

Epiphora - repetition of the same elements at the end of phrases, stanzas, lines.

Foolish heart, don't beat!

We are all deceived by happiness,

The beggar only asks for participation...

Foolish heart, don't beat.

Both stylistic figures are more characteristic of poetry than prose. Such techniques are found in all types and genres of literature, including oral folk art, which is very natural, given its specificity.

An ellipse is an omission in a literary text of any linguistic unit (it is easy to restore), while the meaning of the phrase does not suffer.

What yesterday is waist-deep,

Suddenly - to the stars.

(Exaggerated, that is:

Full height.)

M. Tsvetaeva

This gives dynamism, conciseness, and highlights the desired element intonationally in the sentence.

In order to clearly navigate the diversity of linguistic figures and professionally understand the name of a visual and expressive means, you need experience, knowledge of theory and language disciplines.

The main thing is not to overdo it

If we perceive the surrounding information through the prism of linguistic means of expressiveness, we can come to the conclusion that even Speaking refers to them quite often. It is not necessary to know the name of a figurative and expressive means of language in order to use it in speech. Rather, it happens unintentionally, unnoticed. It’s another matter when you have the means mass media Various figures of speech flow in like a stream, both appropriate and not so appropriate. The abuse of tropes, stylistic devices, and other means of expressiveness makes speech difficult to perceive and oversaturated. Journalism and advertising are especially guilty of this, apparently because they deliberately use the power of language to influence the audience. The poet, in the rush of the creative process, does not think about what visual and expressive means to use; this is a spontaneous, “emotional” process.

Language is the most powerful tool in the hands of the classics

Each era leaves its mark on the language and its visual means. Pushkin's language is far from Mayakovsky's creative style. The poetics of Tsvetaeva’s legacy differs sharply from the unique texts of Vladimir Vysotsky. The poetic language of A. S. Pushkin is permeated with epithets, metaphors, personifications, I. A. Krylov is a fan of allegory, hyperbole, and irony. Each writer has his own style, created by him in the creative process, in which his favorite visual forms play an important role.

Means of speech expression- this is one of the most important factors, thanks to which the Russian language is famous for its richness and beauty, which has been sung more than once in poetry and immortal works of Russian literary classics. To this day, Russian is one of the most difficult languages ​​to learn. This is facilitated by the huge number of means of expression that are present in our language, making it rich and multifaceted. Today there is no clear classification of means of expression, but two conventional types can still be distinguished: stylistic figures and tropes.

Stylistic figures- these are speech patterns that the author uses in order to achieve maximum expressiveness, which means it is better to convey the necessary information or meaning to the reader or listener, as well as give the text an emotional and artistic coloring. Stylistic figures include such means of expression as antithesis, parallelism, anaphora, gradation, inversion, epiphora and others.

Trails- these are figures of speech or words that are used by the author in an indirect, allegorical meaning. These means of artistic expression- an integral part of any work of art. The tropes include metaphors, hyperboles, litotes, synecdoche, metonymies, etc.

The most common means of expression.

As we have already said, there is very a large number of means of lexical expressiveness in the Russian language, therefore in this article we will consider those of them that can most often be found not only in literary works, but also in Everyday life each of us.

1. Hyperbola(Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) is a type of trope based on exaggeration. Through the use of hyperbole, the meaning is enhanced and the desired impression is made on the listener, interlocutor or reader. For example: sea ​​of ​​tears; Ocean Love.
2. Metaphor(Greek metaphora - transference) - one of essential means speech expressiveness. This trope is characterized by the transfer of characteristics of one object, creature or phenomenon to another. This trope is similar to a comparison, but the words “as if”, “as if”, “as” are omitted, but everyone understands that they are implied: tarnished reputation; glowing eyes; seething emotions.
3. Epithet(Greek epitheton - application) is a definition that gives the most ordinary things, objects and phenomena have an artistic coloring. Examples of epithets: golden summer; flowing hair; wavy fog.

   IMPORTANT. Not every adjective is an epithet. If an adjective indicates clear characteristics of a noun and does not carry any artistic meaning, then it is not an epithet: green grass ; wet asphalt; bright sun.

4. Antithesis(Greek antithesis - opposition, contradiction) - another means of expressiveness that is used to enhance drama and is characterized by a sharp contrast of phenomena or concepts. Very often the antithesis can be found in poetry: “You are rich, I am very poor; you are a prose writer, I am a poet...” (A.S. Pushkin).
5. Comparison- a stylistic figure, the name of which speaks for itself: when comparing, one object is compared with another. There are several ways in which comparison can be presented:

   - noun (“…storm haze the sky covers...").

   A figure of speech that contains the conjunctions “as if”, “as if”, “as”, “like” (The skin of her hands was rough, like the sole of a boot).

   - subordinate clause (Night fell on the city and in a matter of seconds everything became quiet, as if there was no such liveliness in the squares and streets just an hour ago).

6. Phraseologisms- a means of lexical expressiveness of speech, which, unlike others, cannot be used by the author individually, since it is, first of all, a stable phrase or phrase peculiar only to the Russian language ( neither fish nor fowl; play the fool; how the cat cried).
7. Personification is a trope that is characterized by endowing inanimate objects and phenomena with human properties (And the forest came to life - the trees spoke, the wind began to sing in the tops of fir trees).

In addition to the above, there are the following means of expression, which we will consider in the next article:

• Allegory
• Anaphora
• Gradation
• Inversion
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Lexical repetition
• Irony
• Metonymy
• Oxymoron
• Multi-Union
• Litotes
• Sarcasm
• Ellipsis
• Epiphora and others.

Means of expression in the Russian language can be divided into:

1. Lexical means
2. Syntactic means
3. Phonetic means

Lexical means: tropes

Allegory - Themis (woman with scales) – justice.	Replacing an abstract concept with a concrete image.
Hyperbole -Bloomers as wide as the Black Sea(N. Gogol)	Artistic exaggeration.
Irony - Where, smart, your head is delirious. (Fable by I. Krylov).	Subtle mockery, used in the opposite sense to the direct one.
Lexical repetition -Lakes all around, deep lakes.	Repetition of the same word or phrase in the text
Litota -A man with a fingernail.	Artistic understatement of the described object or phenomenon.
Metaphor - Sleepy Lake of the City (A. Blok)	Figurative meaning words based on similarity
Metonymy - The class was noisy	Replacing one word with another based on the contiguity of two concepts
Occasionalisms -The fruits of education.	Artistic media, formed by the author.
Personification -It is raining. Nature rejoices.	The endowment of inanimate objects with the properties of living things.
Periphrase -Lion = king of beasts.	Substituting words with similar ones lexical meaning expression.
Sarcasm -The works of Saltykov-Shchedrin are full of sarcasm.	A caustic subtle mockery, highest form irony.
Comparison -Says a word - the nightingale sings.	In comparison there is also what is being compared, and then what is it compared to?. Conjunctions are often used: as if, as if.
Synecdoche -Every a penny brings (money) into the house.	Transferring values ​​by quantitative characteristic.
Epithet -“Ruddy dawn”, “Golden hands”, “Silver voice”.	A colorful, expressive definition that is based on a hidden comparison.
Synonyms -1) run - rush. 2)The noise (rustle) of leaves.	1) Words that are different in spelling, but close in meaning. 2) Contextual synonyms - words that are similar in meaning in the same context
Antonyms - original - fake, stale - responsive	Words with opposite meanings
Archaism -eyes - eyes, cheeks - cheeks	Obsolete word or figure of speech

Syntactic means

Anaphora -It was not in vain that the storm came.	Repeating words or combinations of words at the beginning of sentences or lines of poetry.
Antithesis -Long hair, short mind;​​​​​​.	Opposition.
Gradation -I came, I saw, I conquered!	Arrangement of words and expressions in increasing (ascending) or decreasing (descending) significance.
Inversion -Once upon a time there lived a grandfather and a woman.	Reverse order words
Compositional junction (lexical repetition) -It was a wonderful sound. It was best voice, which I have heard over the past years.	Repetition at the beginning of a new sentence of words from the previous sentence, usually ending it.
Multi-union -The ocean walked before my eyes, and swayed, and thundered, and sparkled, and faded away.	Intentional use of a repeated conjunction.
Oxymoron -Dead Souls.	A combination of words that are not compatible in meaning.
Parcellation -He saw me and froze. I was surprised. He fell silent.	The deliberate division of a sentence into meaningful segments.
Rhetorical question, exclamation, appeal -What a summer, what a summer! Who hasn’t cursed the stationmasters, who hasn’t sworn at them? Citizens, let's make our city green and cozy!	Expressing a statement in interrogative form; to attract attention; increased emotional impact.
Rows, pairwise combination of homogeneous members -Nature helps to fight loneliness, overcome despair, powerlessness, forget hostility, envy, and the treachery of friends.	Using homogeneous members for greater artistic expressiveness of the text
Syntactic parallelism -To be able to speak is an art. Listening is a culture.(D. Likhachev)	Similar, parallel construction of phrases and lines.
Default -But listen: if I owe you... I own a dagger, / I was born near the Caucasus.	The author deliberately understates something, interrupts the hero’s thoughts so that the reader can think for himself what he wanted to say.
Ellipsis -Guys - for the axes! (the word “taken” is missing)	Omission of some part of the sentence that is easily restored from the context
Epiphora -I've been coming to you all my life. I believed in you all my life.	Same ending for several sentences.

Phonetic means: sound recording

Solve the Unified State Exam in Russian with answers.