A comparison is a figurative allegory that establishes similarities between two life phenomena. It always contains TWO COMPARISONED IMAGES: the main one, which contains the main meaning of the statement (syntactically this is the first member of the comparison), and the auxiliary (the second member of the comparison), attached to the main one with the conjunctions “as”, “as if”, “as if”: “my life is like a raging sea”, “the heart groans like an autumn leaf trembles”, “it will howl like an animal, then it will cry like a child”, “and he is killed - and taken by the grave, / like that singer, unknown, but Cute...".
Comparison is a technique widely used in artistic speech. It reveals similarities, correspondences, parallels between natural phenomena and people’s lives, between people - it consolidates various associations that arise for the author of the work.
Comparisons often create a single associative series necessary for the emergence of an image. For example, in A.S. Pushkin’s poem “To the Sea,” the sea evokes in the poet a whole series of associations with man in general and the “geniuses” - Napoleon and Byron. These associations are reinforced in comparisons. The sound of the sea, with which the poet says goodbye, is compared with the “mournful murmur” of a friend, his “call... at the farewell hour”: “Like a friend’s mournful murmur, / Like his call at the farewell hour, Your sad noise, your calling noise / I heard This is my last time!” In Byron’s personality the poet sees the same qualities as those of the “free elements”: power, depth, gloom, indomitability: “Your image was marked on him, / It was created by your spirit: / How you, powerful, deep and gloomy, / Like you, we can’t be tamed by anything.” In the first comparison, Pushkin emphasizes the similarity between the sea and man, a friend; in the second, Byron’s similarity with the sea element. The main meaning of the statement changes (in the first case - the sea, in the second - Byron), but as a result, the impression is created that both the sea and Byron are, as it were, creatures of the same nature: proud, freedom-loving, strong-willed, spontaneous and unstoppable.
In folk poetry, so-called stable comparisons are widely used, that is, comparisons based on tradition and used in the same situations. Like constant epithets, such comparisons are not individual, but are taken from the stock that a folk storyteller or singer has. This is a figurative model that can be easily reproduced in the right situation. Of course, poets who rely on folklore also use stable comparisons, for example, M.Yu. Lermontov in “Song about the Merchant Kalashnikov”: “The king frowned his black eyebrows, / And he focused his keen eyes on him, / LIKE A HAWK looked from the heights of heaven / FOR THE YOUNG BLACK-WINGED DOVE.”
So, comparison is one of the ways of understanding reality, one of the forms of artistic thinking. No language can do without comparisons, and they manifest themselves especially vividly, expressively and emotionally in the language of poetry.
It is interesting to consider how individual poets use the comparison trope, for example, M. Tsvetaeva - all quotes below are taken from her works.
What is the subject of comparison in M. Tsvetaeva?
1. Subject of comparison - abstract concepts
A) time:
"...time, LIKE THE OCEAN
Sneak through without disturbing the waters..."
B) life and, in contrast to it, death:
“All life is LIKE A BOOK for me”;
"This is my life sang - howled -
It boomed - LIKE AN AUTUMN SURF -
And she cried to herself."
"Life fell like a RUSTY PENNY..."
"Life is like a ship:
A little Spanish castle - by!
Everything that is impossible
I will do it myself."
"Death is a WORMHOLE."
"Death in every crevice. In every recess in the floor - a HOLE."
C) stages of human life: childhood, youth, old age:
"You gave me a childhood - BETTER THAN A FAIRY TALE"
"LIKE A SNAKE LOOKS AT OLD SKIN -
I have outgrown my youth"
D) times of day: day, night, morning, evening and time unit - hour:
"My days are like SMALL WAVES,
Which I look at from the bridge"
"Black, like a pupil,
Like a pupil sucking
Light - I love you, bright night."
Tsvetaeva often compares abstract concepts with concrete tangible objects. Moreover, M. Tsvetaeva speaks about the days, looking at them from the side, puts a certain boundary between her days and herself “I look from the bridge”). And the night, on the contrary, is spoken of as something that belongs to a person, as a part of his inner world. M. Tsvetaeva feels the night as if inside herself. Night for the lyrical heroine is an internal state, a certain mood of the soul:
"...LIKE BLOOD
The night has come!"
But the poet often associates “hour” with a voice or a story. It is as if controlled by man, consistent with him:
"The word is strange - old woman:
The meaning is unclear, the sound is gloomy,
How to FOR PINK EAR
DARK SINK NOISE."
Here the sound is compared with another sound, but still unexpected: the sound of the word is compared with the noise of a sea shell. Moreover, a sign of comparison is not only the sound, but also the meaning of the word. But here is a comparison where the object and the image are completely identical to each other, they are compared on the basis of purely quantitative differences:
"By a thin wire above a wave of oats
Today a voice is like a THOUSAND VOICES."
Such a quantitative comparison emphasizes not only and not so much the power of the voice, but also its importance, the significance of what it tells.
In almost all cases, M. Tsvetaeva’s sounds are compared with something concrete, material:
“Two words, SOUNDS LIKE Spurs.
TWO BIRDS IN BATTLE THUNDER."
““No,” - THE ICE IS DEFINITELY CRACKED.”
"Words are heavy, LIKE DROPS."
E) expression of various emotions and feelings:
"Love is even older:
Old as a horsetail, old as a serpent,
Older than Livonian AMBERS,
All GHOST SHIPS
Old - STONES, old - SEAS"
"And my laughter is the jealousy of all hearts! -
LIKE A LEPER BELL -
Thunders at you"
"Alive and well!
Louder than thunder -
LIKE AN AX -
Joy"
It is advisable to include in this group comparisons that focus on describing the soul and heart of a person. They are sometimes associated with various rooms.
“The souls in us are like HALLS FOR RARE GUESTS.”
"In this sad soul you wandered, LIKE IN AN UNLOCKED HOUSE"
G) poems:
"Poems grow LIKE STARS AND LIKE ROSES,
How BEAUTY IS UNNEEDED IN THE FAMILY"
"Your verse is not needed -
LIKE A GRANDMOTHER'S DREAM.
- Your verse is boring -
LIKE A GRANDFATHER'S SIGH."
"My poems are like VOLUNTEERS -
They flocked to your tent."
"My poems, LIKE PRECIOUS WINES,
Your turn will come."
2. Subject of comparison - portrait characteristics of a person
"The whole child is LIKE A STATUETTE
Long ago." -
"...free and slippery
Stance like a SILK SCALE WHIP"
"Wrapped in a cloak - beautiful, LIKE A DREAM -
I see a young man"
"There's not a speck of blood in the whole girl...
Everything is as white as a scarf."
3. Subject of comparison - parts of the human body
"The hand fell out LIKE A SCROLL,
Open and weak..."
"A hand in the sun is like a dead man swaddled"
Portrait comparisons by M. Tsvetaeva are of two types: those giving purely portrait characteristics and those describing the inner world of a person through appearance. Let's compare:
"Mouth LIKE BLOOD, and eyes are green" and
"A mouth LIKE HONEY, trust in the eyes
"And whose eyes are LIKE DIAMONDS,
They left a mark on the heart."
"My eyes move like a flame"
Tsvetaeva’s comparisons are almost not based at all on the external properties of the eyes, but convey on a more expressive level their ability to express a person’s character and mood.
"And here - between the faces - a face
Hump-nosed and HAIR LIKE WINGS."
4. Subject of comparison - various household items
"My faithful desk!
Thanks for coming
With me on all paths,
Guarded me - LIKE A SCAR
. . . on all paths
I was overtaken by LIKE THE SHAH -
A fugitive. “Back on the chair!”
"From under frowning brows
House - LIKE MY YOUTH
A DAY LIKE MY YOUTH
I am greeted by: “Hello, it’s me!”
Here the house is no longer simply compared to an animal, but is, as it were, reincarnated into the heroine herself, and then - in a time that is dear to her, that is, it is abstracted and loses its material, objective meaning.
"Under the dome - LIKE A KING IN THE HALL -
The British flag flaunts."
"A cloak, whimsical LIKE A FLEECE"
Shawl - LIKE A SHIELD"
"Dress - SILK BLACK SHELL"
"CLOK - RAVEN OVER THE FLOCK OF MOTIFIED
High society moths"
-
Tsvetaeva’s comparisons are very interesting, in which the subject reflects the state of the lyrical hero. They can be read from the beginning or from the end, for example: “Garden, lonely, like herself.”
5. Subject of comparison - landscape
"In the sky, like a dawn, spring dawn.
Waves of Easter ringing"
"...a frozen lilac bush, like a GUARD POST."
Nature in the image of M. Tsvetaeva, just like the entire world around her, is very often likened to a person with his emotions and feelings:
"Trees throw themselves at the windows -
LIKE BROTHERS - POETS - INTO THE RIVER"
"Two trees go to each other...
That which is smaller reaches out its hands,
LIKE A WOMAN FROM THE LAST LIVES
Stretched out... "
This comparison is surprising in that here the trees not only take on a human form, but also live a human life: they “walk”, “stretch their hands,” that is, the object and the image in comparison are not arranged sequentially, but seem to be superimposed on each other, and the image completely replaces the item.
Perceiving the world around her, the lyrical heroine M. Tsvetaeva not only sees it visually, but also hears, feels, senses it. Comparisons are also used to create a mood and enhance the emotionality of images:
"Waters as blue as the sky
AND TWO SILVER HANDS.
Few years - and four years:
You and I - by the Moscow River"
Both laconic and colorful: in just one sentence both the sky and the river are given so vividly and expressively. Or: “Moss is like green fur!” - transition from purely sound similarity to morphological and semantic similarity: the amazing tangibility of the softness and fluffiness of the moss is emphasized.
M. Tsvetaeva’s landscapes are always emotional and very personal:
"LIKE A WARM TEAR -
A drop fell into my eyes.
There, in the heavenly heights
Someone is crying for me"
Here, rain is not a natural phenomenon that applies to everyone, but a very subjective image that concerns only the lyrical hero. In the comparison there is no word “rain” at all; it is not rain, but crying, and LG knows the reason for crying - about her.
6. The subject of comparison is actions and states (leaving, arriving, waiting, etc.).
"So that it goes away like a sigh."
"Vanishing like SMOKE IN THE SKY,
They left, they left."
"Move like a LONG SCREAM"
"Not by a sneaking slain beast,"
No, a stone block
I'll walk out the door -
From life"
The last comparison is an antithesis. In it, two images that are opposite in meaning create a description of one action. Here, not only the concepts themselves are contrasted (“beast” - “block”), but also epithets (“creeping” - “stone”). This bright contrast enhances the stillness and static nature of the action. On the contrary, there are comparisons with the feeling of impulse, even flight in motion:
Oh, if only - the doors are wide open -
LIKE THE WIND to come to you!"
"A cat crept onto the porch"
"Oster, LIKE MY SUMMERS,
My step, young and clear"
7. The subject of comparison is the internal state of the heroes
"Two stans is not a fighter, but - if the guest is random -
Then the guest is LIKE A BONE IN THE THROAT, the guest is LIKE A NAIL IN THE SOLE."
"LIKE THE RIGHT AND LEFT HAND -
Your soul is close to my soul.
We are folded, blissfully and warmly,
Like the RIGHT AND LEFT WING"
"Not for a thousand destinies -
We will be born for one.
CLOSER THAN WITH THE PALM OF BREAD -
So we agree with you.
..CLOSER THAN WITH THE PALM OF THE FOREHEAD
Those hours are sleepless."
8. Subject of comparison - personality traits of the hero
"YOU, LIKE ALL NATURAL INGOTS,
So involuntarily, so proudly modest, "
"If you are kind and affectionate, LIKE CHILDREN,
If both the ray and the bush are dear to you..."
"I'll throw in the keys and chase the dogs off the porch,
Because in the earthly night I am more faithful than a dog."
"Dream or mortal sin -
To be LIKE SILK, LIKE DOWN, LIKE FUR..."
9. Subject of comparison: animals or plants
The phenomena of the animal and plant world almost never become the object of her attention, with rare exceptions. Animals in her lyrical comparisons are often interesting from the point of view of their movement or color:
"Your horse, as before, gallops like a whirlwind"
"And the doves on them are like incense - blue"
"Today I took a tulip -
LIKE A CHILD'S CHIN"
Here, not only the tulip is compared with a child, but also how it was taken, that is, the action, and at the same time the attitude towards it (to the tulip, as to a child).
Comparisons in the work of M. Tsvetaeva are unexpected, varied in images, ambiguous and very emotional. They are never used by her for the sake of adding beauty to the language or for the sake of filling a line with a suitable rhyme - they form an important part of the meaning, the content of the poems - they laconically and expressively create an image of what is being discussed in the poem.
Most of M. Tsvetaeva’s comparisons characterize abstract concepts: time, emotions, sounds, poetry, etc. The peculiarity of this group of comparisons is that in the lyrics they are often compared with specific, real objects. M. Tsvetaeva wrote: “It is impossible to speak weightlessly about weightlessness. My goal is to affirm, to give weight to things. And in order for my “weightlessness” (soul, for example) to weigh, I need something from the local vocabulary and everyday life, a certain measure of weight, the world already known and established in him... To enslave the visible to serve the invisible is the life of a poet.”
M. Tsvetaeva does not describe or tell, but tries, as it were, to “reincarnate” into the object she depicts, to enter its form. Comparisons characterizing the soul or heart of a person are aimed primarily at describing the inner world, feelings and experiences of the lyrical heroine or other heroes, expressing the attitude of the lyrical heroine towards them.
Comparisons that give portrait characteristics of the hero describe him from different sides. Many of them are distinguished by their stylistic expressiveness and emotionally charged vocabulary. The hero's inner world is often described through appearance.
Comparisons used to describe the properties of the hero’s personality characterize both certain character traits and the very attitude of the heroes, their perception of life. Human properties are compared with images of animals. The sign is not indicated in them; it is replaced by an image - specific, clear and expressive.
Comparisons used in landscape sketches are few in number, fragmentary and are transferred from the general to the subjective, personal level. Natural phenomena correlate with specific people. Perceiving the world around her, the lyrical heroine not only sees it visually, but also hears, feels, feels, as a result of which several signs appear in comparisons at once, on the basis of which objects or phenomena are compared: color, sound, smell, etc.
Comparisons, the subject of which are animals and plants, are presented least often in M. Tsvetaeva’s poems; they quite rarely become the object of her poetic attention, which prefers the world of feelings and emotions, the internal experiences of the lyrical heroine, rather than the surrounding world.
In ordinary conversation, we from time to time use comparisons of one thing with another. For example, we say “he is strong as an ox” or “she is as beautiful as her first love.” These expressions help us illustrate our words with a powerful example. This is how our speech becomes more vivid and interesting.
It would be strange if poets and writers did not use such a technique for decorating speech. Indeed, artistic comparison is quite common in literature. Researchers classify comparisons as phrases, i.e., those phrases that are based on changes in the meaning of words and expressions. This term is defined as a comparison of objects or phenomena according to some common characteristic. In the comparison structure, there is an object of comparison (i.e. the object in question), a means of comparison (the object with which the object is compared) and a common attribute. In our example, the object will be “he” - a certain man, the means - a bull, and the sign - the power inherent in both a man and an animal.
In speech, comparison is formalized using conjunctions “as if (would)”, “as if (would)”, “exactly”, “as”, prepositions “like”, “like”, adjectives “similar )" and other designs. Based on the design used, several types of comparisons are distinguished:
- comparisons in the form of a comparative phrase expressed using a preposition or conjunction:
Chernobrova, stately, like white sugar!..
It became creepy, I didn’t finish my song.
And she - nothing, stood, walked,
Looked back: behind her how crazy I looked.“Gardener”, N. A. Nekrasov;
- comparisons formed by using a noun in the instrumental case
And bright gold and pure silver
Snakes transparent clouds outlines…“On the Dnieper in Flood”, A. A. Fet;
- non-union comparisons formulated in the form of a sentence with a compound nominal predicate:
Gigantic monsters -
The heavy dream of centuries...“In the Kingdom of Ice”, K. D. Balmont;
- denying comparisons (“Trying is not torture”).
Comparisons have been used to enrich speech for a long time. In Aristotle’s book “Rhetoric” we find reflections on the fact that Socrates already made comparisons to illustrate his theses and thus make them clearer to his listeners. An entire chapter (Chapter IV, Volume III) of this work is devoted to comparisons and how they should be used correctly in speech. The philosopher emphasizes that this technique is more appropriate in poetic speech: “Comparison is also useful in prose, but in few cases, since [in general it belongs] to the field of poetry,” since it makes speech more elegant and successful.
It must be said that this idea of Aristotle is confirmed by numerous examples of excellent similes taken from lyrical works, which really give beauty and expressiveness to the lines. Here are a few passages from the works of Aristotle's contemporaries that contain comparisons:
Was the sea is filled with corpses, like the sky is filled with stars:
Blind,
Breathless,
They tickled the waves, burdened the shores...“Persians”, Timofey Miletsky, translation by M. L. Gasparov.
Jumping up from the black earth in a swift rush,
The son of Peleus took off easily, like a hawk takes off, -
The ever-flowing spring began to flow under his feet.Antimachus of Colophon, translation by O. Tsybenko.
We also find comparisons in the works of medieval authors:
Turning into an ermine-squirrel,
He rushed to the reeds Prince IgorAnd swam like Gogol, on the wave,
Flew like the wind, on horseback.The horse fell and prince off your horse,
Jumps like a gray wolf he's home.Like a falcon, hovering into the clouds
Seeing Donets from afar.“The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”, translation by N. A. Zabolotsky.
And then the sword, dipped in the blood of the vile, blade like ice, in hand began to melt- it was a miracle: iron melted like ice floes, when the Creator breaks the shackles of winter at sea.“Beowulf”, translation by V. Tikhomirov.
Joseph was without food, like wolves in the steppe, and for crumbs
From this stingy table lions rush like cats.“On Old Age”, Nizami Ganjavi, translation by K. Lipskerov and S. Shervinsky.
In this regard, one cannot help but recall the work of the figures of the Golden Age of Russian poetry. In many works original and picturesque comparisons are found:
And all like a dream, your age has passed.
Like a dream, like a sweet dream,
My youth has also disappeared;
Beauty is not very tender,
It’s not so much joy that delights...
“On the death of Prince Meshchersky”, G. R. Derzhavin.
Now, barely awakened soul,
Before the mother, as if before Fate,
Carefree he plays in the cradle
And young joys arrived...“To the Empress Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna on the birth of V. kN. Alexander Nikolaevich. Message”, V. A. Zhukovsky.
What's in a name?
It will die like a sad noise
Waves splashed on the distant shore,
Like the sound of the night in the deep forest.“What’s in your name...”, A. S. Pushkin.
Here the king frowned his black eyebrows
AND fixed his eyes on him vigilant,
Like a hawk looked from above
To a young blue-winged dove, -
Yes, the young fighter did not look up.“Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov,” M. Yu. Lermontov.
Poets of the Silver Age also often resorted to comparisons to give their lines imagery and depth:
On a spring day the boy is angry
He pierced the birch bark with a knife, -
AND drops of juice, like tears,
Tekli transparent stream.“On a spring day, an angry boy ...”, F. K. Sologub.
Or you, oh woman, in a new guise,
Modest as a shadow and naked as day,
You will lure me to horrors ready -
To the “Underground Dwelling” or to the meadows?…“What else can you dream about?”, V. Ya. Bryusov.
There are also comparisons among Soviet poets.
The wind sings and rings over the river,
Near the cliff the reeds crackle,
Green pines wave their scarves,
The sky inflated like a tight sail.
“Summer hike”, E. A. Asadov.
And now I
I enter the city, the winds are cleaner...
I sniff the air like an animal
On human ashes.
“Scout”, O. F. Berggolts.
We find comparisons in the works of modern Russian poets:
Opened road view
tangled like mycelium,
I have achieved change
how much could have changed.“Earthquake in Tse Bay”, A. M. Parshchikov.
And light-winged, long-legged,
And weightless, like a spirit,
fearless, like demigods,
and subtle, like a singing ear…“Prayer”, T. Yu. Kibirov.
We would venture to suggest that comparison, with some diligence, can be found in the works of all poets. This is not surprising, because comparison helps to isolate an important feature or property of a certain object, focus attention on it, and finally give the lines detail and versatility, resurrecting additional images in the reader’s mind. That is why comparisons remain a popular trope for most authors.
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 in which some phenomena or objects are likened to others according to some common characteristic. may 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, comparison is made using the noun in 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, but 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 a special role in the perception of the artistic image. Here is 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, the young widow 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, they are distinguished by a common 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 is an excellent example of the use of similes in literary work.
About the work of A.S. Pushkin
The great poet was a recognized genius in mastering the most complex. 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 disaster (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 allow you to achieve figurative speech, both written and oral. And you should not neglect this wealth.
