Comparison definition and examples. Means of artistic expression: Paths. Nouns in instrumental case

June 14, 2014

We can talk endlessly about the beauty and richness of the Russian language. These arguments are just another reason to join such a conversation. So, comparisons.

What is comparison

In fact, this term is ambiguous. This fact is confirmed by the endless examples of comparison that we observe in everyday life. IN colloquial speech it is rather a likening of different objects, a statement that they are equal or similar.

In mathematics, the term “comparison” is intertwined with the similar concept of “relation.” By comparing numbers for equality or inequality, we find the difference between them.

Comparison is also the process of comparing the similarities and differences, disadvantages and advantages of several objects. As examples show, comparisons in sciences such as philosophy, psychology, sociology are a kind of cognitive operations that underlie reasoning about the similarities and differences of the objects being studied. With the help of comparisons, various characteristics of these objects or phenomena are revealed.

Comparison in the literature: definition and examples

Stylistic and literary comparisons have a slightly different meaning. These are figures of speech, stylistic devices in which some phenomena or objects are likened to others according to some common characteristic. The comparison method can be simple, then certain words are usually present in circulation. Among them are: “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”. But there is also an indirect method of comparison: in this case, the comparison is made using a noun in the instrumental case without a preposition. Example: “Onegin lived as an anchorite” (“Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin).

Similes and metaphors

Comparisons are inextricably linked with another literary concept, metaphor - an expression used in a figurative sense. Actually, the basis of the metaphor is a comparison that is not directly expressed. For example, A. Blok’s line “The streams of my poems run” is a typical metaphor (the word “streams” is used in a figurative sense). But this same line is also a comparison: poems flow like streams.

It is interesting to use metaphorical devices in the case of the so-called negative comparison. Examples of comparison can be easily found in epics. “Not two clouds converged in the sky, two daring knights converged” - in this example of the Old Russian epic, the similarity of formidable warriors with dark terrible clouds is simultaneously emphasized, and their identity is denied, and an absolutely amazing overall picture is drawn.

Negative comparisons, more typical of works of folk art and their folklore stylizations, play special role in the perception of an artistic image. Here’s a line from A. Nekrasov’s work: “It’s not the huntsman who trumpets the oak wood, it’s the wild head who cackles—after crying, it’s the young widow who chops and chops wood.” The second part of the expression (After crying...) is self-sufficient in itself and fully conveys the required meaning. But only the combination of both parts of the sentence allows you to feel all the bitterness, all the tragedy of what happened.

Means of expressive language

Comparisons help explain concepts or phenomena by comparing them with other objects - sweet like honey, sour like vinegar. But the main goal is not to emphasize the characteristic properties of the object. The main thing is the figurative, most accurate expression of the author's thoughts, because one of the most powerful means of expressiveness is comparison. Examples from literature brilliantly illustrate its role in the formation of the image desired by the author. Here is a line of creation from M.Yu. Lermontov: “Harun ran faster than a deer, faster than a hare from an eagle.” One could simply say: “Harun ran very fast” or “Harun ran at great speed.” But, being absolutely true in their essence, such phrases would not achieve even a small degree of the effect that is inherent in Lermontov’s lines.

Peculiarities

Paying tribute to comparisons as powerful exponents of the peculiarities of Russian speech, many researchers were amazed at the rationality of these comparisons. It would seem, what does rationality have to do with it? After all, no one demands special accuracy or literalness from comparisons! But here are dissimilar comparison examples, strings belonging to different people. “There were fire-faced elands here, like glasses of bloody wine” (N. Zabolotsky) and “Fate, you look like a market butcher, whose knife is bloody from tip to handle” (Khakani). Despite all the dissimilarity of these expressions, what distinguishes them is general feature. Both phrases tell about completely ordinary things (about red flowers, about the difficult human fate) and, written in a slightly different form, could easily be lost in any text. But the use of comparisons (“glasses of bloody wine,” “butcher’s knife”) turned out to be exactly the touch that deliberately added special expressiveness and emotionality to simple words. This is probably why in songs and romantic poems, where the emotional mood is already strong, comparisons are even less common than in realistic narratives.

Examples of comparisons in Russian

Russian language is considered one of the most difficult. And at the same time, the creations of domestic classics are recognized throughout the world as the most brilliant, original, and talented. It seems that there is an inextricable connection between these facts. The difficulty of learning a language lies in the considerable number of features, possibilities, and rules present in it. But this also opens up enormous scope for a talented writer who has managed to master cunning techniques. The Russian language is indeed very rich: it contains truly limitless possibilities that allow you to turn an ordinary word into a vivid visual image, make it sound in a new way, so that it remains forever in memory. Poetic works are especially conducive to this. “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.” This line by P. Vyazemsky is an excellent example of the use of comparisons in literary work.

About the work of A.S. Pushkin

The great poet was a recognized genius in mastering the most complex literary techniques. The comparisons used in his poems and poems are striking in their unexpectedness and at the same time accuracy and precision.

“His beaver collar is silvered with frosty dust” - this is a line from the poem “Eugene Onegin”. Only a few words, but the capital’s boulevard, covered with snow, and a young dandy heading to the ball emerge before my eyes. And then there’s the episode at the ball: “He walked in: and the cork hit the ceiling, the current flowed out from the comet.” If Pushkin had written that a footman had opened a bottle of champagne, he would not have deviated from the truth. But would this picture of extraordinary, festive, sparkling fun have emerged so clearly then?

And this is from the poem “The Bronze Horseman”: “And before the younger capital, old Moscow faded, like a porphyry-bearing widow before the new queen.” Is it possible to more accurately convey the atmosphere of a certain patriarchy and even abandonment that reigned in Moscow after the city of Petra was named the capital of Russia? “Let the Finnish waves forget their ancient enmity and captivity!” - this is about how the waters of the Neva were encased in granite. Yes, probably, this could be stated without comparisons, but would the pictures drawn by the author appear so clearly before the eyes?

And more about Russian poetic creativity

There are plenty of wonderful examples of the use of comparative images in the works of other Russian poets. Amazing comparisons in Bunin's poem “Childhood” accurately convey the atmosphere of a hot summer day, the sensations of a child who enjoys the sun and the aromas of the forest. The author’s sand is silk, the tree trunk is a giant, and the sun-drenched summer forest itself is sunny chambers.

No less remarkable, although completely different examples are present in the works of other Russian wordsmiths. Comparisons in Yesenin’s poem “Good morning!” reveal to the reader a summer dawn. Golden stars are dozing, instead of river water there is a mirror of the backwater, there are green catkins on the birch trees, silver dews are burning, and the nettles are dressed in bright mother-of-pearl. In fact, the entire poem is one big comparison. And how beautiful it is!

We can talk about comparisons in S. Yesenin’s works for a long time - they are all so bright, imaginative and at the same time different. If in the work “Good Morning” the atmosphere is light, joyful, pleasant, then when reading the poem “Black Man” there is a feeling of heaviness, even catastrophe (it is not for nothing that it is considered a kind of requiem by the author). And this atmosphere of hopelessness is also formed thanks to unusually accurate comparisons!

“The Black Man” is a tragically unique poem. A certain black man who appeared either in a dream or in the author’s feverish delirium. Yesenin is trying to understand what kind of vision this is. And then a whole series of brilliant comparisons: “Just like a grove in September, the brain is showered with alcohol,” “My head flaps its ears like the wings of a bird, its legs can no longer loom on its neck,” “In December in that country the snow is pure as hell, and snowstorms make merry spinning wheels.” You read these lines and see everything: the bright frosty winter, and enormous human despair.

Conclusion

You can express your thoughts in different ways. But for some it is faded and dull phrases, or even completely incoherent babble, while for others it is luxurious, flowery paintings. Comparisons and others artistic techniques allow you to achieve figurative speech, both written and oral. And you should not neglect this wealth.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Surely you have heard the expressions BRAVE LIKE A LION or CLINY LIKE A FOX more than once?! belong to one of the most expressive lexical devices which is called comparison.

Most often this can be found in literature, and some comparisons have already migrated into our everyday speech. Thanks to them, the author strengthens the image many times over.

After all, you must agree - it’s one thing to come home and say “I’m hungry”, and quite another thing “I’M HUNGRY AS A WOLF!” The second option is stronger, and most importantly, everyone immediately understands that you shouldn’t delay dinner for even a second.

Comparison is a visual technique in which two objects (actions or phenomena) are compared in order to enhance the characteristics of one of them. Moreover, in comparisons two elements are always mentioned - what is being compared and what is being compared with.

The villages are burning, they have no protection.
The sons of the fatherland are defeated by the enemy,
AND GLOW, LIKE ETERNAL,
Playing in the clouds frightens the eye.

In this quatrain, Mikhail Lermontov compares the light from fires with celestial body, thereby focusing attention on how bright it is.

Another example from literature (poetry):

Crazy years faded FUN
I'm having a hard time, LIKE A HAPPY HANGOVER.
But, LIKE WINE, THE SADNESS of days gone by
In my soul, the older, the stronger.

And this is Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich. In this quatrain he has two comparisons at once, and both are related to the topic of alcohol (understandable to many in our country).

Firstly, from the phrase “fun - hangover”, we understand that joy is a thing of the past, and it has been replaced by melancholy. And secondly, the vivid image of “sadness - wine” creates a feeling of hopelessness.

Ways to create comparisons using examples

There are several basic ways to create comparisons:

using comparative conjunctions “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “what/than”, “exactly”;
using nouns in the instrumental case;
or adverbs in comparative form;
using the words “similar” and “similar”.

Now let's give examples for each type of comparison.

Comparative prepositions

He ran faster than a horse. (Pushkin)
On Red Square, as if through the fog of centuries, the outlines of the towers were clearly visible. (Nekrasov)
Lightning in the sky not only flashed, but also fluttered, LIKE the wing of a dying bird. (Turgenev)
And they stand behind the oak nets, LIKE forest evil spirits, stumps. (Yesenin)
Every village here is so beautiful, as if it contains all the beauty of the Universe. (Yashin)

Nouns in instrumental case

Farewell tears flowed like a HAIL from the chopped old birch tree. (Nekrasov)
Birds appeared like a fabulous vision from the surface of the water. (Alekseev)
The moon slides like a PANCAKE in sour cream. (Parsnip)
A patterned clean TOWEL hangs a rainbow from the birch trees. (Rubtsov)

Adjectives and adverbs in comparative form

There is no beast stronger than a cat. (Krylov)
These eyes are GREENER than the sea and our cypresses are DARKER (Akhmatova)
A girl's eyes are BRIGHTER than roses. (Pushkin)
LIGHTER than the sun throne room (Tsvetaeva)

The homeland is LIKE a huge tree on which you cannot count the leaves. (Peskov)
Your eyes are LIKE the eyes of a cautious cat. (Akhmatova)

Examples of extended comparisons

Sometimes writers and poets use not one or two words as comparisons, but whole sentences. This allows you to create a very vivid image and more accurately convey the mood of the entire work.

Here is one of the striking examples - the poem by Konstantin Zabolotsky “Voice on the Phone”.

He used to be loud, JUST A BIRD,
LIKE A SPRING, it flowed and rang,
As if pouring out all in radiance
I wanted to use a steel wire.
And then, like a distant sob,
AS A FAREWELL with the joy of the soul,
It began to sound full of repentance,
And disappeared into an unknown wilderness.

In the poem itself there is no subject that is being compared. It's hidden in the title. And all the quatrains are a continuous comparison combined with metaphors. And using these techniques, Zabolotsky very colorfully describes past love. After all, this is exactly what we are talking about, as you might have guessed.

Huge comparisons are also found in prose. Here, for example, is an excerpt from Homer’s famous “Iliad.”

AJAX rushed at the ENEMIES, LIKE A HUNGRY LION at the frightened huddled SHEEP, who had lost their shepherd, who were left without protection, defenseless, LIKE CHILDREN without supervision, and can only timidly moan and back away in fear of the lion's thirst for blood and murder, which seizes the predator like madness, intensifying when he senses the horror of the doomed...

There are two comparisons here. One “Ajax is a lion”, and the other even turned out to be double “enemies - sheep - children”. Moreover, note that the main words are heard only at the very beginning, and the rest of the rather massive piece of text is devoted to comparison. And this very poetically describes the nature of the battle.

And now I would like to return to where we started. Some comparisons already firmly entered our vocabulary. We have already mentioned three of them, here are more:

Eyes like a bottomless lake;
Red as a lobster;
Sweet like honey;
Like a bull in a china shop;
Frozen like a monument;
Spun around like a top/spinning like a squirrel in a wheel;
Run like you're on fire;
He looks like a ram at the new gate.

And a few more examples:

By the way, similar set expressions. That is, this is the next step after comparisons. But you can read about this in another article on our website.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

Components of comparisons

This trope is characterized by the presence of three components: the object or phenomenon being described, the object with which it is compared, and the basis for the analogy, that is, a common feature. An interesting fact is that the name itself, an indication of this general feature, may be omitted from the text. But the reader or listener still perfectly understands and feels what the author of the statement wanted to convey to the interlocutor or reader.

However, the very understanding of the definition, which explains what comparison is in the literature, does not yet give a complete picture without examples. And here a clarification immediately arises: with the help of what parts of speech and in what forms do authors form these tropes?

Types of comparisons in literature for nouns

Several types of comparisons can be distinguished.

Comparisons of modus operandi in the literature

Typically, such constructions involve verbs and adverbs, nouns or whole phrases and

Why are comparisons needed in literature?

Having understood the question of what comparison is in literature, it is necessary to understand: are they necessary? To do this, you should do a little research.

Here is where comparisons are used: “The dark forest stood as if after a fire. The moon was hiding behind the clouds, like covering its face with a black scarf. The wind seemed to have fallen asleep in the bushes.”

And here is the same text in which all comparisons have been removed. “The forest was dark. The moon was hiding behind the clouds. Wind". In principle, the meaning itself is conveyed in the text. But how much more figuratively the picture of the night forest is presented in the first version than in the second!

Are comparisons necessary in ordinary speech?

Some may think that comparisons are necessary only for writers and poets. But ordinary people in their ordinary life they are not needed at all. This statement is absolutely false!

At a doctor’s appointment, the patient, describing his feelings, will definitely resort to comparisons: “The heart hurts... It’s as if it’s cutting with a knife, and then it’s as if someone is squeezing it into a fist...” A grandmother, explaining to her granddaughter how to make dough for pancakes, is also forced to compare : “Add water until the dough looks like thick sour cream.” Mom tiredly pulls back the overly amused baby: “Stop jumping around like a hare!”

Probably, many will object that the article is devoted to comparisons in literature. What does our everyday speech have to do with it? Be proud, common people: many people speak using literary speech. Therefore, even vernacular is one of the layers of literature.

Comparisons in the specialized literature

Even technical texts cannot do without comparisons. For example, so that in a cooking recipe fried fish not to repeat the process already described above, for shortening, the author often writes: “Fish should be fried in the same way as cutlets.”

Or in a manual for people learning the basics of construction from plywood or wood, you can find the phrase: “You screw in self-tapping screws with a drill in the same way as you screw them out. Just before work you should set it to the desired mode.”

Comparisons are a necessary technique in literature of various directions. The ability to use them correctly distinguishes a cultured person.

First, carefully read examples from poems by different poets.

Under blue skies

Magnificent carpets,

The snow lies shining in the sun.

(A. Pushkin.)

It's sad at night. From the lights

The needles stretch out like rays.

From gardens and alleys

Smells like wet leaves.

(M. Voloshin.)

Let the bird cherry trees dry like laundry in the wind,

Let the lilacs fall like rain -

I'll take you away from here anyway

To the palace where pipes are played.

(V. Vysotsky.)

I erected a different monument for myself!

Turn your back to the shameful century.

Face your lost love.

And the chest is like a bicycle wheel.

(I. Brodsky.)

Find similes in each of the four passages. Let us give you a little hint: what is lying snow compared to? lantern lights? cherry blossom? chest of a monument (which, of course, does not exist) to the poet Brodsky? Was it easy for you to complete this task? Try to explain why the comparisons were not immediately visible, why there were difficulties in finding them? Is this related to the form of their expression?

In Pushkin, the fallen snow looks like magnificent carpets. In Voloshin, the rays from the lights are drawn to needles (however, it should be noted that the comparison itself is inverted here: it would be less unexpected to read that “the rays are drawn by needles”). Vysotsky compares flowering bird cherry trees to laundry drying and fluttering in the wind. In the last example, what is interesting is that Brodsky revives the linguistic comparison chest with a wheel, which has become so worn out that we no longer perceive it as a comparison. Adding cycling makes the comparison come alive again.

All comparisons in these passages are expressed in the instrumental case of the noun. The instrumental case creates difficulties: we cannot recognize the comparison “in person” immediately, because we do not see the clue words as, as if, as if, similar to others.

A comparison is a figurative phrase or some kind of expanded structure that involves a comparison of two concepts, phenomena or states that have a common feature. Due to the common feature, the individual effect and artistic significance of what is being compared is enhanced.

The act of comparison appears to be at the very origins of the poetic image. This is its initial form, from which all other types of small verbal imagery naturally flow: metaphor, metonymy, parallelism, etc. Comparison contains the very essence of figurative thinking, its synthesizing character in the comprehension of existence. Artistic thought, like comparison, always correlates and brings together what is separated by the boundaries of time and space. It creates a picture of a single world in which all objects and phenomena are covered by an all-pervasive connection. “Everything in the universe is connected, has a relationship with each other, corresponds to one another,” Goethe said in conversations with Eckermann, as if making it clear that the universe itself is like a grandiose work of art. In order for comparison to arise, this initial act of artistic thought, it was necessary for human thinking to overcome the feeling of disunity of objects, so that it began to connect, connect them, looking for common features in heterogeneous things.

We can say that the comparison contains, as it were, an elementary model of a work of art. After all, a work lives only by comparisons of images, characters, details; everything in it is comparable. Comparing, juxtaposing train of thought is not only the basis of artistic thinking, but also the basis of our perception of art.

Comparison brings objects and phenomena of life together in order to concretize what is depicted, because the concrete, as we know, is always fuller and richer than the abstract. Comparison is always a discovery: it suddenly reveals something common where at first only different things were seen. Here the artist’s vigilance triumphs, and the more unusual the comparison, the stronger the impression of discovery.

It looked like a clear evening:
Neither day nor night, neither darkness nor light...

This is how Lermontov depicts the state of the Demon’s soul on the verge of crisis: light and darkness in it are not just in conflict, they are already close to a state of equilibrium, and it seems that the soul needs only one strong push for it to find peace and faith. The meeting with Tamara was such an impetus for the Demon. At the same time, the comparison with the evening seems to anticipate the ending of the poem: the evening balance of the Demon’s soul turned out to be short-lived, followed by a spiritual night.

In comparison, the act of comparison is formally enshrined. The objects being compared are brought closer and at the same time retain their boundaries. This is expressed grammatically using certain words: as, as if, like, as if, similar to, etc.

Comparison in literature, like an epithet, is always an indicator of the tenacity and freshness of a writer’s vision (external and “internal”). But, like an epithet, it often presupposes the choice of a certain sphere of life from which the material is drawn. This choice itself speaks volumes, not only about the artist’s personal preferences, but sometimes about the way of life of an entire people, about their value system. A whole cascade of comparisons that poured into the “Song of Solomon”, where the beauty of Shulamith is depicted, speaks not only of her irresistible beauty, but also of the nature of the life of the ancient Jews, in particular, that they lived by agriculture and cattle breeding. It is from these spheres that comparisons are drawn, in which all the fullness, luxury and earthly power of being are embodied - a reflection of the creative power of the Lord.

The forcing of comparisons drawn from the arsenal of earthly riches and luxury is characteristic of the poetry of the East where it strives to embody the ideal female beauty. And beauty is perceived not only in ideally bodily, but also in excessive manifestations. Hegel connected this tendency of Eastern poetry toward “an abundance of luxurious images,” woven into endless chains of comparisons, with the psychology of the Eastern worldview.

A comparison in which both links of the image (the one being compared and what it is being compared with) are branched is called expanded. Objects and phenomena of mental life here are often compared not by one, but by several criteria. But since in a detailed comparison both links are detailed and dissected and poetically specific, the second member of the comparison often acquires a touch of illustration. Moreover, it may not contain a comprehensive analogy.

Pushkin's "Autumn" contains an example of just such a structure. At first it may seem that the scope of the extended comparison here is limited only by the boundaries of the eleventh stanza. But that's not true. After all, the image of a ship preparing to sail (the second link of comparison) includes an analogy with the initial state of the soul, immersed in a poetic plan. And the line “So the motionless ship slumbers in the motionless moisture” lives in a roll call with the beginning of the X stanza.

And yet, one cannot help but notice that the image of the sea “hulk” associatively resonates only with the extreme and polar phases of the creative process (calm, contemplative slumber and rapid movement of thought). Between them in the second link of comparison (the image of a ship) no intermediate “joints” are visible. But it is precisely thanks to them that the image of the creative state of the soul in Pushkin acquires complexity and richness of facets, the dynamics of self-disclosure. Indeed, for Pushkin, the mystery of inspiration is reflected not simply in the replacement of peace of mind with the confusion of creative “fever”. The poetic contrast of calm and impulse permeates all the stages that the artist’s creative will goes through on the way from a vague idea to its embodiment. At first there is only a sweet sleep of thought and a feast of imagination (“I am sweetly lulled to sleep by my imagination”). Poetry begins when the first impulse is born, the desire to pour the unsteady sleep of the soul into living, contemplated forms. This stage is marked by special tension and tediousness of search.

But then the impetuous intonation of the verse suddenly levels out, acquiring a smooth and slow pace. There is a decline in the movement of the verse. It accompanies a new phase in the development of thought, a moment of enlightenment of the creative spirit, uninhibited imagination, when the poet becomes the free ruler of his artistic world. But this time the calm is instantaneous, it is replaced by a new impulse, even more unbridled and passionate, the desire to embody the found forms of life. The eleventh stanza begins with an unexpected “take-off” of thought, with a statement (“And the thoughts in the head are agitated in courage”), pulling behind it a whole chain of additions, fastened by anaphoric repetition and parallelisms at the beginning of the lines (“And thoughts... And rhymes...” . And fingers..."). The dynamics and expression of these poems are so great that even the word “minute,” interrupting the chain of additions, seems to be “captured” by this movement, acquiring the effect of extension, the impression of a passing moment. In the image of the ship, all these shades, transitions, stages are removed and only a generalized analogue of the contrast is presented, which in the picture of the creative process arises again and again, each time enriching its meaning.

So, the absence of an exhaustive analogy in Pushkin’s extended comparison is obvious. This is explained by the fact that the rich and multidimensional content of Pushkin’s thought is already expressed in the first link of comparison and is expressed, of course, in the language of image. All that remains is to apply a rounding stroke, to immerse the thought in the element of absolute plasticity (the image of a ship), thereby giving it a special shine and creating, as if by the way, a “springboard” for further run-up of associations (a metaphorical rethinking of the verb “sails” - “Sails. Where do we go?” swim?").