What is personification in literature? What is personification, or why the wind blows.
Personification is an artistic technique quite often used in literature, the essence of which is the transfer of personality traits to inanimate objects. It provides figurative speech. This artistic technique is a variety. With its help, you can create original semantic constructions that add color to the text. For example, “reed whispers” (which in real life only a person can do).
You can also find the name "personification", which is a synonym. Wikipedia writes that personification is a term that is used in psychology when a person's qualities and emotional reactions are mistaken attributed to another person(this mechanism is called projection, which underlies this process). In sociology, personification is used to shift the responsibility for bad events to another person.
Functions of personification in art
This artistic technique is used to solve various problems.
- Adding play moments to children's learning. For example, fables are full of personifications of various kinds. Animals are endowed with human qualities, making it more interesting for the child to perceive the plot and find the moral of the work.
- Creating an emotional tone of the text. Personification can be used to draw the reader's attention to the work. It can find application not only in fiction, but also in popular science. Often, personification is used as one of the marketing techniques.
- Stimulate the reader's imagination, give him the opportunity to more colorfully feel what he read.
And a number of other tasks are set by personification. That's what personification is used for.
Where is personification used?
One of the genres where personification is especially actively manifested is myth. In the texts of ancient peoples, human qualities were attributed to plants, animals, seas and oceans. Using an example, it was much easier to explain the essence of things, the reasons for the origin of the universe and the appearance of living beings. There were many gods who were embodied in inanimate objects and animals and had the same character traits as people.
Personification is used and in a fairy tale. It is necessary to draw a line between myth and fairy tale. The first is perceived as a reality. That is, they believe in personification, denying that this is just an artistic technique. In the case of a fairy tale, everything is clear - the characters are fictional. It does not aim to explain incomprehensible things such as the origin of life on Earth.
Personification can also be used in scientific literature, although its number is much less than in the artistic one. Most often it is used in the form of set expressions such as "it's raining", which are used everywhere. That is, personification in scientific texts is used unconsciously, without the goal of creating colorfulness. Personification manifests itself most actively in art, not in science.
How to find personification?
It is not difficult to find personification in prose, a poem. To do this, you need to start from the definition. Impersonation is when not a person endowed with human qualities. For example, the sun has set. So, in the well-known poem by A. S. Pushkin “At the seashore the green oak” from the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” contains the following lines:
And day and night, the scientist cat keeps walking around the chain. He goes to the right - the song starts, to the left - he tells a fairy tale.
Obviously, a cat cannot sing or tell a fairy tale, only people are capable of this. This technique is called personification or impersonation.
What is the difference between personification and allegory?
Very often you can confuse personification and. Well, indeed, both there and there, certain qualities are embodied in specific objects or living beings. However, there is a difference between these concepts. Personification is a kind of metaphor and is a simple associative artistic technique.
conclusions
Impersonation is a good tool that help to add expression through good comparison. It is used in a huge number of areas, from myths to scientific texts. This is a powerful technique that should be used carefully and moderately.
Let's look for an example of personification in poetry. We read from Sergei Yesenin:
Small forests. Steppe and gave.
Moonlight all the way.
Here again they suddenly sobbed
Draft bells.
The bells did not ring, but sobbed, as women weep when they are in grief.
Personification helps a writer or poet to create an artistic image, bright and unique, expands the possibilities of the word in conveying a picture of the world, sensations and feelings, in expressing one's attitude to the depicted.
2.6 Hyperbole (tropes)- a figurative expression, consisting in an exaggeration of the size, strength, beauty, meaning of the described: In a hundred and forty suns, the sunset was blazing (V. Mayakovsky). They can be individual-author's and general language ( at the edge of the earth).
In linguistics, the word "hyperbola" call an excessive exaggeration of any qualities or properties, phenomena, processes in order to create a bright and impressive image, for example:
rivers of blood, you are always late, mountains of corpses, haven’t seen each other for a hundred years, scare you to death, said a hundred times, a million apologies, a sea of ripened wheat, I’ve been waiting for ages, I’ve stood all day, at least fill up, a house a thousand kilometers away, constantly late.
Hyperbole is often found in folklore, for example, in epics: Ilya Muromets picks up "an iron shalyga, but which weighed exactly one hundred pounds",
Yes, wherever you wave, the street will fall,
And wave back - alleys ...
In fiction, writers use hyperbole to enhance expressiveness, create a figurative characterization of the hero, a vivid and individual idea of him. With the help of hyperbole, the author's attitude to the character is revealed, the general impression of the statement is created.
2.7 Litota (trope)- this is a figurative expression, turnover, stylistic figure, (trope) which contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength of the meaning of the depicted object or phenomenon. Litota in this sense is the opposite of hyperbole, so it is called inverse hyperbole in another way. In litotes, on the basis of some common feature, two heterogeneous phenomena are compared, but this feature is represented in the phenomenon-means of comparison to a much lesser extent than in the phenomenon-object of comparison. .
N.V. Gogol often turned to litotes. For example, in the story “Nevsky Prospekt”: “such a small mouth that it can’t miss more than two pieces”, “waist, no thicker than a bottle neck”.
Litota is especially often used in poetry. Almost no poet has bypassed this stylistic device. After all, litotes are a means of expression.
In poetry, this stylistic figure occurs as:
1. Denial of the opposite.
An example from a poem by Nikolai Zabolotsky sounds like this:
"ABOUT, I'm not bad lived in this world!
2. As an understatement of the subject.
Nekrasov Lita. Example:
“In big boots, in a sheepskin coat,
Big gloves... and himself with a fingernail!»
"My The fox is so small
So small
What of the wings mosquitoes
I made two shirt-fronts for myself "
2.8 Allegory (tropes)- a conditional image of abstract ideas (concepts) through a specific artistic image or dialogue.
As a trope, allegory is used in fables, parables, morality; in the visual arts it is expressed by certain attributes. Allegory arose on the basis of mythology, was reflected in folklore, and was developed in the visual arts. The main way of depicting allegory is a generalization of human concepts; representations are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy-tale characters, inanimate objects, which acquire a figurative meaning
Example: the allegory of "justice" - Themis (a woman with scales).
2.9 Paraphrase (tropes)- a descriptive expression used instead of a particular word, for example: King of beasts (lion), city on the Neva (St. Petersburg). General language periphrases usually get a stable character. Many of them are constantly used in the language of newspapers: people in white coats (doctors). Stylistically, figurative and non-figurative paraphrases are distinguished, cf.: The sun of Russian poetry and the author of "Eugene Onegin" (V. G. Belinsky).Euphemism – variety paraphrases. Euphemisms replace words, the use of which by the speaker or writer for some reason seems undesirable.
2.10 Irony (trope)- the use of the word in the opposite sense of the literal: Where, smart, are you wandering, head? (I. Krylov). Clever mind- an appeal to the donkey. Irony is a subtle mockery, expressed in the form of praise or a positive description of the subject.
The classic of Russian literature N.V. Gogol in a poem "Dead Souls" with a completely serious look tells about the chief of police-bribe taker:
The police chief was in some ways a father figure and benefactor in the city. He was among the citizensjust like a native in the family, and he visited the shops and the gostiny yard, likein your own closet.
2.11 Antithesis (trope) – this is a turn of poetic speech, in which, in order to enhance expressiveness, sharplydirectly opposite phenomena, concepts, thoughts are opposed:Both the rich and the poor, and the wise, and the stupid, and the good, and the evil, sleep (A. Chekhov).
The lexical basis of antithesis is the presence of antonyms, which is clearly manifested in proverbs and sayings:
Easy to make friends, hard to part.
The smart one teaches, the fool gets bored.
Learning is light and ignorance is darkness.
The rich feast even on weekdays, while the poor mourn even on holidays.
They came together: wave and stone,
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
(A.S. Pushkin).
2.12 Oxymoron (trope) - stylistic figure or stylistic mistake - a combination of words with the opposite meaning, that is, a combination of incongruous. An oxymoron is characterized by the intentional use of contradiction to create a stylistic effect: living corpse, large trifles.
2.13 Antonomasia - trope, which is expressed in the replacement of a name or a name with an indication of some essential feature of an object or its relation to something.
An example of a substitution for an essential feature of the subject: "great poet" instead of "Pushkin". An example of a replacement with an indication of a relationship: “the author of War and Peace” instead of “Tolstoy”; "Peleus son" instead of "Achilles".
In addition, antonymy is also called the replacement of a common noun by a proper name (the use of a proper name in the meaning of a common noun). Examples: "Esculapius" instead of "doctor". “We sang songs, ate dawns // and the meat of future times, and you - // with unnecessary cunning in your eyes // solid dark Semyonovs”, N. N. Aseev.
Antonomasia in both cases is a special kind of metonymy.
2.14 Gradation (st. figure) - Arrangement of words in increasing or decreasing importance: I do not regret, I do not call, I do not cry (S. Yesenin).
A striking example of an ascending gradation is the lines from the well-known "Tales of the Golden fish" A.S. Pushkin:
I don't want to be a black peasant
I want to be a pillar noblewoman;
I don't want to be a pillar noblewoman,
And I want to be a free queen;
I don't want to be a free queen
And I want to be the mistress of the sea.
An increase in the expressiveness of the utterance, an increase in expressiveness with the help of a climax is observed in the lines of A.P. Chekhov:
The traveler jumps up to him and, raising his fists, is ready to tear, destroy, crush.
2.15 Inversion (st. figure) - an arrangement of words that breaks the usual word order:
A lonely sail turns white
In the fog of the blue sea (M. Lermontov).
"Everyone was ready to start a new battle tomorrow" (M. Lermontov)
"I restore Russia from dampness and sleepers" (M. Tsvetaeva)
"In the two years I've lived here, yesterday has turned into tomorrow"
Inversion allows you to focus on a particular word or phrase; places semantic loads in the sentence; in a poetic text, inversion sets the rhythm; in prose, with the help of inversion, logical stresses can be placed; inversion conveys the attitude of the author to the characters and the emotional state of the author; inversion brings the text to life and makes it more readable and interesting. To fully understand what inversion is, you need to read more classical literature. In addition to inversion, in the texts of great writers you can find many other interesting stylistic devices that make speech brighter and with which our Russian language is so rich.
2.16 Ellipsis (st. figure)- omission for stylistic purposes of any implied member of the sentence. Ellipsis gives speech a swift, dynamic character: We are cities - to ashes, villages - to dust (V. Zhukovsky). It is used by authors to force readers to think of a deliberately omitted phrase or a single word on their own.
“...Walk at the wedding, because it is the last one!” In these lines, which belong to Tvardovsky, the word “what” is missing. “Her life was longer than mine.” And here we observe the omission of a minor member of the sentence, an additional one, which is expressed by a noun in the nominative case.
2.17 Concurrency (st. figure)- the same syntactic construction of neighboring sentences, the location of similar members of the sentence in them.
Your mind is as deep as the sea.
Your spirit is as high as the mountains (V. Bryusov).
What is he looking for in a distant country? What did he throw in his native land? (M. Lermontov).
2.18 Anaphora(unity) ( Art. figure) - repetition of the same words or phrases at the beginning of sentences:
I stand at the high doors.
I follow your work (M. Svetlov).
2.19 Epiphora (st. figure) - repetition of individual words or phrases at the end of sentences: I would like to know why I am a titular councillor? Why a titular adviser? (N. Gogol).
2.20 Asindeton (non-union) (art. figure)- the absence of unions between homogeneous members or parts of a complex sentence: Swede, Russian - stabs, cuts, cuts (A. Pushkin).
Flickering past the booth, women,
Boys, benches, lanterns,
Palaces, gardens, monasteries,
Bukharians, sleighs, vegetable gardens,
Merchants, shacks, men,
Boulevards, towers, Cossacks,
Pharmacies, fashion stores,
Balconies, lions on the gates
And flocks of jackdaws on crosses.
A. S. Pushkin
2.21 Polysyndeton (multi-union) (st. figure) - repetition of the same union with homogeneous members or parts of a complex sentence: It is both boring and sad, and there is no one to give a hand to in a moment of spiritual adversity (M. Lermontov).
2.22 Rhetorical question (v. figure)- using an interrogative form for a more vivid expression of thought. It is sometimes said that a question that does not require an answer can be considered rhetorical, that is, a statement formulated in the form of a question for poetics. In fact, the answer to a rhetorical question is so obvious that it can be read "between the letters" of the question: Do you love theater as much as I do? (V. Belinsky).“O Volga, my cradle, did anyone love you like me?” (Nekrasov)
"What Russian doesn't like to drive fast?" (Gogol)
2.23 Rhetorical exclamation (art. figure)- an emotionally colored sentence in which emotions are necessarily expressed intonationally and one or another concept is affirmed in it. The rhetorical exclamation sounds with poetic enthusiasm and elation:
“Yes, love as our blood loves
None of you have loved for a long time!” (A. Blok);
"Here it is, stupid happiness
With white windows to the garden!” (S. Yesenin);
"Fade power!
To die is to die!
Until the end of my dear lips
I would like to kiss ... "(S. Yesenin)
2.24 Rhetorical address (v. figure)- an underlined appeal to someone or something, with the aim of expressing the author's attitude to this or that object, to give a description: "I love you, my damask dagger, comrade light and cold ..." (M.Yu. Lermontov) This stylistic figure contains expression, intensifying the tension of speech: “Oh, you, whose letters are many, many in my portfolio I keep ...” (N. Nekrasov) or “Flowers, love, village, idleness, field! I am devoted to you with my soul ”(A.S. Pushkin)
The form of the rhetorical appeal is conditional. It gives poetic speech the necessary authorial intonation: solemnity, pathos, cordiality, irony, etc.:
“The stars are clear, the stars are high!
What do you keep in yourself, what do you hide?
Stars, concealing deep thoughts,
By what power do you captivate the soul? (S. Yesenin)
2.25 Parceling- a special articulation of the statement, in which incomplete sentences arise, following the main one: And all the Kuznetsk bridge and the eternal French, Where fashion comes to us from, and authors, and muses: Destroyers of pockets and hearts! When will the creator deliver us From their hats! bonnets! and Shpilek! and pins!.. A.S.Griboyedov. Woe from the mind.
3. Functions of tropes in the text
The most important role in artistic speech is played by tropes - words and expressions used not in a direct, but in a figurative sense. Tropes create in the work the so-called allegorical figurativeness, when the image arises from the convergence of one object or phenomenon with another.
This is the most common function of all tropes - to reflect in the structure of the image the ability of a person to think by analogy, to embody, according to the poet, "the convergence of things far away", thus emphasizing the unity and integrity of the world around us. At the same time, the artistic effect of the trail, as a rule, is the stronger, the farther the approaching phenomena are separated from each other: such is, for example, Tyutchev's likening of lightning to “deaf-mute demons”. On the example of this path, one can trace another function of allegorical figurativeness: to reveal the essence of this or that phenomenon, usually hidden, the potential poetic meaning contained in it. So, in our example, Tyutchev, with the help of a rather complex and non-obvious path, makes the reader take a closer look at such an ordinary phenomenon as lightning, to see it from an unexpected angle. Despite the complexity of the paths, it is very accurate: indeed, the reflections of lightning without thunder are naturally designated by the epithet “deaf and dumb”.
The use of tropes in artistic speech creates new combinations of words with their new meaning, enriches speech with new shades of meaning, gives the phenomenon being defined the meaning, shade of meaning that the speaker needs, conveys his assessment of the phenomenon, that is, plays on the subjective component.
And the aesthetic is a function of creativity in general, tropes are the main way to create an artistic image, and an artist. the image is the main aesthetic category. tropes make natural language a poetic language, enable it to perform the main function of poetic language - aesthetic.
For literary analysis (as opposed to linguistic analysis), it is extremely important to distinguish between general language tropes, that is, those that have entered the language system and are used by all its speakers, and author's tropes, which are used once by a writer or poet in this particular situation. Only the tropes of the second group are capable of creating poetic imagery, while the first group, common language tropes, should not be taken into account in the analysis for obvious reasons. The fact is that common language tropes are “erased”, as it were, from frequent and widespread use, lose their figurative expressiveness, are perceived as a stamp and, therefore, are functionally identical to vocabulary without any figurative meaning.
Conclusion
In conclusion of this work, I would like to note that the resources of expressive means in the language are inexhaustible and the means of language, such as figures and paths, which make our speech beautiful and expressive, are extremely diverse. And it is very useful to know them, especially for writers and poets who live in creativity, because. the use of figures and tropes leaves an imprint of individuality on the author's style.
The successful use of tropes and figures raises the level of text perception, while the unsuccessful use of such techniques, on the contrary, lowers it. A text with an unsuccessful use of expressiveness techniques defines the writer as an unintelligent person, and this is the most difficult by-product. Interestingly, when reading the works of young writers, as a rule, stylistically imperfect, one can draw a conclusion about the level of the author’s mind: some, not realizing that they do not know how to use various methods of expressiveness, nevertheless oversaturate the text with them, and it becomes difficult to read it. impossible; others, realizing that they cannot cope with the masterful use of tropes and figures, make the text neutral from this point of view, using the so-called "telegraphic style". This is also not always appropriate, but it is perceived better than a heap of expressive techniques, clumsily used. Neutral, almost devoid of expressiveness, the text looks like a meager one, which is quite obvious, but at least it does not characterize the author as a fool. Only a real master can skillfully apply tropes and figures in his creations, and brilliant authors can even be “recognized” by their individual style of writing.
Expressive devices such as tropes and figures should surprise the reader. Efficiency is achieved only in those cases when the reader is shocked by what he has read and impressed by the pictures and images of the work. The literary works of Russian poets and writers are rightfully famous for their genius, and the expressive means of the Russian language play an important role in this, which our Russian writers very skillfully use in their works.
Bibliography
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Introduction to Literary Studies. - M.: Academy, 2010. - 720 p.
Krupchanov L. M. Theory of Literature. - M.: Nauka, 2012. - 360 p.
4. Meshcheryakov V.P., Kozlov A.S. and other Introduction to literary criticism. Fundamentals of the theory of literature. - M.: Yurayt, 2012. - 432 p.
Mineralov I.Yu. Theory of artistic literature. - M.: Vlados, 1999. - 360 p.
Sannikov V.Z. Russian syntax in the semantic-pragmatic space. - M.: Languages of Slavic culture, 2008. - 624 p.
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Since ancient times, people have endowed inanimate objects, phenomena and representatives of the animal world with human characteristics. The roots of such actions go back to the beliefs that existed at that time. For example, according to Old Slavic traditions, trees, buildings, household items, weapons, etc. had a soul. Therefore, it was quite natural to address them as if they were alive, and the existence of such phrases: mother earth, Mr. Veliky Novgorod, the wolf says in a human voice, etc. Such phrases have survived to this day. In addition, such techniques are constantly used in modern fiction and in everyday conversations.
This is the personification. Currently, it can be attributed to a literary device that allows you to endow inanimate objects with those properties that are characteristic of living beings. The second name of the technique is personification (translated from Greek, it literally means “to make a face”). Here are a few examples of how different objects and phenomena are "made a face": a star speaks to a star; somewhere an oriole is crying; Sun is up; dormant harsh northern city. With the help of personification, you can create a vivid image of the described phenomenon, convey emotions and feelings, focus on some action.
Many personifications have become so firmly established in our speech that we use them daily, without realizing that we are “animating” an inanimate object. For example, the Heart went to the heels. Of course, such an organ of the body as the heart cannot walk, especially to another organ. Or Flowers rejoice in the sun's rays - plants cannot experience the emotions inherent in people.
Most of the personifications can be found in poems, fables and fairy tales, where human qualities are attributed to various animals and plants: the pike spoke, the goldfish became sad, the forest woke up, the frost-voivode patrols his possessions, the scarlet light of dawn wove on the lake. Personification refers to one of the types of tropes, that is, special expressions used in literary work in order to enhance the expressiveness and imagery of the narrative.
Creative alliance of personification and metaphor
Linguists consider personification a special kind of metaphor. However, there are clear differences between them, which are as follows:
- personification transfers the qualities of the living to inanimate objects, and the metaphor is based on the similarity of some properties of two similar objects;
- the personification is unambiguous in its structure, it accurately describes a certain quality, and the metaphor has a more complex and multi-valued structure, therefore it can be understood in different ways;
- personification can be part of a metaphor.
In any text and speech, the presence of such a lexical device as personification will help create a memorable image and demonstrate to the reader or listener the entire rich palette of the Russian language.
Personification is one of the types of metaphor, but still it is an independent trope that should not be called a metaphor.
The progenitor of personification is animism. In ancient times, people endowed the surrounding objects and phenomena with human characteristics. For example, the earth was called mother, and the rain was compared with tears. Over time, the desire to humanize inanimate objects disappeared, but in literature and in conversation we still meet these figures of speech. This figurative means of language is called personification.
Personification is a literary technique in which inanimate objects are endowed with properties that are inherent in living beings. Sometimes this figure of speech is called personification.
Personification is used by many prose writers and poets. For example, in Yesenin you can find the following lines: "Winter sings, haunts, shaggy forest cradles." It is clear that winter, as a season, cannot make sounds, and the forest makes noise only because of the wind.
Personification allows you to create a vivid image for the reader, convey the mood of the hero, emphasize some kind of action.
This figure of speech, in contrast to the more complex and refined metaphor more suitable for poetry, we use even in colloquial speech. The well-known phrases “milk has run away”, “the heart is acting up” are also personifications. It makes our everyday speech more expressive. We are so accustomed to many personifications that they do not surprise us. For example, "it's raining" (although the rain obviously has no legs) or "the clouds are frowning" (it is clear that the clouds cannot experience any emotions).
In general, we can say that personification is such a trope of language, in which the inanimate is endowed with the signs and qualities of the living. Personification is often confused with metaphor. But a metaphor is just a figurative meaning of a word, a figurative comparison. For example, "And you laugh with a wondrous laugh, SNAKE IN A BOWL OF GOLD." There is no natural inspiration here. Therefore, it is not difficult to distinguish personification from metaphors.
Examples of personifications:
And woe, woe, grief!
And the mountain was girded with a bast,
Bast LEGS IS CONFUSED.
(Folk song)
GOING gray-haired sorceress,
Shaggy WAVING SLEEVE;
And snow, and scum, and hoar frost,
And turns water into ice.
From her cold BREATH
NATURE'S LOOKING STUNNED...
(G. Derzhavin)
After all, autumn is in the yard
LOOKING through the thread.
Winter follows her
IN A WARM FUR COAT IS GOING,
The path is covered with snow
It crunches under the sleigh...
(M. Koltsov)
Description of the flood in Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman:
“... The Neva all night / rushed to the sea against the storm, / not having overcome their violent foolishness ... / and it became impossible for her to argue ... / The weather became even more fierce, / The Neva swelled and roared ... / and suddenly , like a wild beast, / rushed at the city ... / Siege! Attack! evil waves, / like thieves, climb through the windows, ”etc.
"A golden cloud spent the night..." (M. Lermontov)
"Through the azure twilight of the night
The snowy Alps LOOK
Their dead eyes
RAZYAT with icy horror "
(F. Tyutchev)
"The warm wind blows softly,
The steppe breathes fresh life"
(A. Fet)
"White birch
under my window
covered with snow,
Exactly silver.
On fluffy branches
snow border
Brushes blossomed
White fringe.
And there is a birch
In sleepy silence
And the snowflakes are burning
In golden fire
And the dawn, lazily
WALKING AROUND,
Sprinkles the branches
New Silver.
(S. Yesenin "Birch"):
Among the personifications of true poetry, there are no simple, philistine, primitive personifications that we are used to using in everyday life.
Each personification is an image. This is the point of using personification. The poet uses it not as a “thing in itself”, in his poetry the personification rises above the “worldly level” and goes to the level of figurativeness. With the help of personifications, Yesenin creates a special picture. Nature in the poem is alive - but not just alive, but endowed with character and emotions. Nature is the main character of his poem.
How sad against this background are the attempts of many poets to create a beautiful poem about nature, where the wind always “blows”, “the moon shines”, “the stars shine”, etc. All these personifications are beaten and worn out, they do not give rise to any imagery and, therefore, are boring. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be used. And the erased personification can be raised to the level of an image.
For example, in the poem "It's snowing" by Boris Pasternak:
It's snowing, it's snowing.
To the white stars in the blizzard
Stretching geranium flowers
For the window frame.
It's snowing and everything's IN CONFUSION
Everything takes flight,
black stairs steps,
Crossroad turn.
It's snowing, it's snowing
As if not flakes are falling,
And in the patched coat
The firmament GOES TO THE GROUND.
Like a weirdo
From the top staircase
SNEAK UP PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK
The sky is coming down from the attic.
Because life DOES NOT WAIT.
Do not look back - and Christmas time.
Only a short interval
Look, there is a new year.
The snow is falling, thick, thick.
In step with him, FEET those
At the same pace, WITH LAZY TOY
Or with the same speed
Maybe TIME IS PASSING?
Maybe year after year
Follow as it snows
Or like the words in a poem?
It's snowing, it's snowing
It's snowing and everything is in turmoil:
whitewashed pedestrian,
SURPRISED plants,
Crossroad turn.
Notice how many personifications there are. “The sky is coming down from the attic”, steps and crossroads that take off! Some "surprised plants" are worth something! And the refrain (constant repetition) “it is snowing” transfers a simple personification to the level of semantic repetition - and this is already a symbol. The personification "It's snowing" is a symbol of the passing time.
Therefore, in your poems, you should also try to USE THE PERSONALIZATION NOT JUST BY ITSELF, BUT TO PLAY A PARTICULAR ROLE.
Personifications are also used in fiction. For example, there is an excellent example of personification in Andrey Bitov's novel Pushkin's House. The prologue describes the wind circling over St. Petersburg, and the whole city is shown from the point of view of this wind. The wind is the protagonist of the prologue. No less remarkable is the image of the title character in Nikolai Gogol's novel The Nose. The nose is not only personified and personified (i.e. endowed with the features of a human personality), but also becomes a symbol of the protagonist's duality.
A few more examples of personification in prose speech that came to mind:
The first rays of the morning sun were STEALING through the meadow.
Snow COVERED the ground like a mother of a baby.
The moon WINKED through the clouds.
At exactly 6:30 am, my alarm went off.
The ocean DANCED in the moonlight.
I heard the island CALLING me.
Thunder grumbled like an old man.
There are enough examples. I'm sure you are ready for the next round of the Paths competition series.
Warm regards, your Alcora
Reviews
Alla, here are these two points of the article:
1. "PERSONATION is a literary technique in which inanimate objects are endowed with properties that are inherent in living beings. Sometimes this turn of speech is called personification."
2... In general, we can say that personification is such a trope of language, in which the inanimate is endowed with the signs and qualities of the living ...-
Made me misunderstand the essence of impersonation. This refers to the endowment of inanimate objects with the properties of the living, i.e. It turns out both animals and plants, and not just humans.
I think I'm not the only one. It is necessary to eliminate the duality of understanding.
With gratitude for the article, Vladimir.
In part 2 of the article on Avatars, I already answered this question (to quote myself):
"Can it be considered as the personification" purrs "? Or" wanders over the roofs "? After all, we liken darkness not to a person, but to an animal? Maybe it's more correct to consider this a general view - a metaphor? - I met different opinions on this issue. Who is right? I don't know I would not make a problem out of this - whatever you call the tropes, the main thing is to feel and adequately use each of them, to be able to use them to be accurate and convincing in conveying your thoughts and feelings.
So, once again: Philologists have a lot of (contradictory) opinions, I am not a philologist, I am a practitioner. If I participated in the competition, I would choose for the tour those of my poems where there are TYPICAL personifications (or I would write new poems - for the competition) and would single out the given paths - as tools for my victory in the competition. The same goes for the judges - they first of all need to consider the work on the example of typical (not subject to doubt or discrepancy) given paths, and everything else is an addition to the garnish .... This is a training competition where you need to show both poetry and knowledge of theory , and not just offer to the competition what the author has in the household and what was once successful somewhere.
If we evaluate poetry at all, then it doesn’t matter what this trope is called, it is important that it works on a topic, creates an image that is understandable and accurate.
Personification is the endowment of inanimate objects with the signs and properties of a person [... A star speaks with a star (L.); The earth is sleeping in a blue radiance ... (L.)]. Personification is one of the most common tropes. The tradition of its use goes back to oral folk poetry (Don't make noise, mother, green oak forest, don't bother me, good fellow, to think...).
Personifications are used to describe natural phenomena, things surrounding a person that are endowed with the ability to feel, think, act.
A special type of personification is personification (from Latin persona - face, facere - to do) - the complete assimilation of an inanimate object to a person. In this case, objects are not endowed with private signs of a person (as in personification), but acquire a real human appearance:
Allegory
Allegory (gr. allēgoria - allegory, from allos - different, agoreúo - I say) is the expression of abstract concepts in specific artistic images. For example, in fables, fairy tales, stupidity, stubbornness are embodied in the image of the Donkey, cowardice - in the image of the Hare, cunning - in the image of the Fox. Allegorical meaning can receive allegorical expressions: autumn has come can mean "old age has come".
Individually-author's allegories often take on the character of an extended metaphor, which receives a special compositional solution. For example, A.S. Pushkin's allegory underlies the figurative system of the poems "Arion", "Anchar", "Prophet", "The Nightingale and the Rose"; at M.Yu. Lermontov - poems "Dagger", "Sail", "Cliff", etc.
Metonymy
Metonymy (from Gr. metonomadzo - to rename) is the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their contiguity. For example: Porcelain and bronze on the table (P
Of interest is the metonymy of definitions. For example, in Pushkin, the combination of overstarched impudent characterizes one of the social guests. Of course, in terms of meaning, the definition of overstarched can only be attributed to nouns that name some details of the fashionable dandy's toilet, but in figurative speech such a transfer of the name is possible. In fiction, there are examples of such metonymy (Then a short old man in astonished glasses came. - Boon
Antonomasia
A special type of metonymy is antonomasia (gr. antonomasia - renaming) - a trope consisting in the use of one's own name in the meaning of a common noun. Hercules is sometimes figuratively called a strong man. The figurative use of the words donquixote, donjuan, lovelace, etc. has become fixed in the language.
The names of well-known public and political figures, scientists, writers [We all look at Napoleons ... (P.)] also receive nominal value.
An inexhaustible source of antonomasia is ancient mythology and literature.
However, antonomasia still retains its expressive power, based on the rethinking of the names of historical figures, writers and literary heroes. Publicists use this trope most often in headlines.
Synecdoche
A variety of metonymy is synecdoche in the use of the name of the part instead of the whole, the particular instead of the general, and vice versa. (It is inaudible from birches, a yellow leaf flies weightlessly). (Free thought and scientific audacity broke their wings against the ignorance and inertia of the political system
An epithet (from Gr. epitheton - application) is a figurative definition of an object or action (The moon makes its way through the wavy fogs, it pours a sad light on sad glades. - P.).
There are exact red viburnum
(golden autumn, tearful windows),
Epithets are most often colorful definitions expressed by adjectives.
The creation of figurative epithets is usually associated with the use of words in a figurative sense (cf .: lemon juice - lemon light of the moon; a gray-haired old man - a gray-haired fog; he lazily brushed off mosquitoes - the river lazily rolls waves).
Epithets expressed by words that act in figurative meanings are called metaphorical (A golden cloud spent the night on the chest of a giant cliff, in the morning it rushed off on its way early, playing merrily on the azure ... - L.).
The basis of the epithet may be a metonymic transfer of the name, such epithets are called metonymic (... The white smell of daffodils, the happy, white spring smell ... - L.T.). Metaphorical and metonymic epithets refer to the tropes [cardboard love (G.); moth beauty, tearful morning (Ch.); blue mood (Cupr.); wet-lipped wind (Shol.); transparent silence (Paust.)].
