What is antithesis in literature? Antithesis as a means of expression. The meaning of the word antithesis in the dictionary of literary terms

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Writers are armed with a lot of tools that make it possible to make the narrative more expressive and vivid.

One of the most effective ways is antithesis. Today we will just talk about what it is, according to what principles they are compiled, and along the way we will give a lot of examples from literature and poetry.

Definition - what is it

This term came to Russian from Ancient Greece, and the word "antithesis" itself is translated as " opposition».

Antithesis is a stylistic device that consists in opposing directly opposite images, properties or actions. Serves to enhance the expressiveness of speech and more accurate transmission of thoughts and feelings.

Most simple examples antitheses can be:

Learning is light and ignorance is darkness
The smart one teaches, the fool gets bored
The quieter you go, the further you'll get
Easy to make friends, hard to part
The rich feast on weekdays, and the poor mourn on holidays

1. Contrasting two heroes or images, (see);
2. Contrasting various objects, states or phenomena;
3. Contrasting different qualities of one character or object;
4. Contrasting the properties of two different objects.

Examples of antitheses in prose literature

Built on antithesis even the names some famous works:

War and Peace (Tolstoy)
The Prince and the Pauper (Twain)
Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
Fathers and sons (Turgenev)
Wolves and sheep (Ostrovsky)
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)

But in these works, the opposition is not only in the names, but also in content. So, Leo Tolstoy throughout the novel constantly compares the two poles - peace and enmity, good and evil. This manifests itself both in the course of the narrative, when the author alternates scenes of peaceful life and battles, and in the character of some heroes, for example, Napoleon and Kutuzov or Helen and Natasha.

But Dostoevsky uses other methods. He "places the antitheses" inside one character. This is most clearly manifested in Raskolnikov, who before the crime was a good man, and then became a murderer, and his ideals and behavior changed accordingly.

And finally, Turgenev uses the conflict of generations and their views on life as an antithesis.

Examples in poetry

Comparison of opposites is often used by advertisers. With this technique, they create short, but memorable slogans.

We work, you relax (Indesit technique)
In the cold - warm, in the heat - cool (air conditioners "Samsung")
Easy to turn on, hard to stop (unlimited internet)

And even more often you can find slogans based on the opposition "minimum - maximum". For example, “minimum calories, maximum pleasure” (Coca-Cola light), “minimum space, maximum possibilities” (mobile phone), “minimum labor, maximum effect” (washing powder).

Instead of a conclusion

By the way, thanks to the antithesis, another trick appeared -. So called stable expressions that use words with completely opposite meanings. For example, "hot ice", "terribly beautiful", "living corpse", "bitter joy". You can read more about this on another page of our site.

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

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ANTITHESIS (Greek αντιθεσις - opposition) - one of the methods of stylistics (see Figures), which consists in comparing specific ideas and concepts interconnected by a common design or internal meaning. For example: "Who was nothing, he will become everything." Sharply shading the contrasting features of the compared members, A., precisely because of his sharpness, is distinguished by too persistent persuasiveness and brightness (for which the romantics loved this figure so much). Many stylists therefore treated A. negatively, but on the other hand, poets with rhetorical pathos, for example, are noticeably fond of her. at Hugo's or nowadays at Mayakovsky's. The symmetry and analytical nature of A. make it very appropriate in some strict forms, such as for example. in the Alexandrian verse (see), with its clear division into two parts. The sharp clarity of A. makes it also very suitable for the style of works, to-rye strive for immediate persuasiveness, as for example. in works that are declarative-political, with a social tendency, agitational or having a moralistic predestination, etc. An example is the phrase of the Communist Manifesto: “In the coming struggle, the proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains; they will gain the whole world.” The antithetical composition is often observed in social novels and plays when contrasting the lives of different classes (for example: A. V. Lunacharsky’s The Locksmith and the Chancellor, J. London’s The Iron Heel, Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, etc.) ; A. can underlie works that depict a moral tragedy (for example: Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot”), etc. The opposition of the tragic to the comic provides especially grateful material for A.: for example, Gogol’s Nevsky Prospekt with its contrast of comedy-farcical history Pirogov and dramatic - Piskarev.

Literary encyclopedia. - In 11 tons; M .: publishing house of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction.Edited by V. M. Friche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Antithesis

(from the Greek antithesis - opposition), a compositional technique of opposition: images, plot situations, styles, themes within the whole work; words or verbal constructions with meaning antonyms:

You translator- I reader,

You sleeper- I yawner.

(A. A. Delvig, "Virgil's Translator")

Writers often turn to verbal antithesis in the titles of works. Antithetical titles were regularly used in Russian classics of the 19th century. (“Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev, "Wolves and Sheep" A.N. Ostrovsky, "War and Peace" L.N. Tolstoy, "Crime and Punishment" F. M. Dostoevsky, "Thick and thin" A.P. Chekhov).

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman.Under the editorship of prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

Antithesis

ANTITHESIS(Greek "Αντιθεσις, opposition) - a figure (see) consisting in a comparison of logically opposite concepts or images. An essential condition for antithesis is the subordination of opposites to a common concept that unites them, or a common point of view on them. For example, "I started for health, but brought to rest”, “Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness.” This subordination may not be logically accurate. rare And well-aimed, small And Expensive are not logically subordinate, as light And dark, Start And end; but in this context, these concepts are subordinate due to the fact that the words “rarely” and “small” are taken with a certain specification of their meaning in relation to the words “accurately” and “expensive” compared with them and taken in the literal sense. The paths, entering into the antithesis, can hide its logical clarity and accuracy even more. For example, “Today is a colonel, tomorrow is a dead man”, “Don’t buy a threshing floor, buy a mind”, “Thinks well, but blindly gives birth”, etc.

As a means of enhancing expressiveness, the antithesis is used in the following main cases. Firstly, when comparing images or concepts that contrast with each other. For example, in "Eugene Onegin":

They agreed. Wave and stone

Poetry and prose, ice and fire

Not so different from each other.

Secondly, antithetical concepts or images can totality express something single. In this case, the antithesis usually expresses either the contrast, which already lies in the very content of the expressed object, or its magnitude. So, in Derzhavin, the antitheses “I am a king - I am a slave, I am a worm - I am a god”, etc. express the concept human, as beings of a contrasting, antithetical nature. Pushkin's antithesis is of the same order: "And the rose-maidens drink the breath, perhaps full of the plague." On the other hand, the size of the “Russian land” in Pushkin is expressed by the antitheses of its geographical limits: “From Perm to Taurida, from the Finnish cold rocks to fiery Colchis, from the shocked Kremlin to the walls of motionless China.” Third, an antithetical image (or concept) can be used to shade another image that is in the center of attention. Then only one of the members of the antithesis corresponds to the object being expressed, while the other member has the auxiliary meaning of enhancing the expressiveness of the first. This type of antithesis is related to the figure comparisons(cm.). So, Derzhavin:

"Where the table was food,

There is a coffin there."

Pushkin:

Not the noise of the dense forests,

And the cry of my comrades,

Yes, the scolding of the night watchmen,

Yes, a screech, yes, the ringing of shackles.

From Bryusov:

“But half-measures are hateful,

Not the sea, but a dead channel,

Not lightning, but gray midday,

Not an agora, but a common hall.

Spencer's psychological explanation of this figure that a black spot on a white field seems to be even blacker and vice versa can primarily be attributed to this type of antithesis. White, of course, is not included here in black, but from outside states to him. Wed Pushkin: “I look at you with reverence when... you are black curls on pale marble scatter." Fourth, the antithesis can express an alternative: either - or. So, Pushkin has Leporello's words to Don Giovanni: "You don't care where you start, whether it's from the eyebrows or from the legs."

The antithesis may not be limited to two contrasting images, but it may also be polynomial. So, in Pushkin's "Road Complaints" we find a number of polynomial antitheses:

“Is it a long time to walk in the world,

Now in a wheelchair, then on horseback,

Now in a wagon, now in a carriage,

Either in a cart or on foot?

The antithesis becomes especially effective when it is supported by the contrasts of sound writing, as, for example, in Blok:

"Today - soberly triumph,

Tomorrow - crying and singing».

The figure of antithesis can serve as a principle of construction for entire poetic plays or individual parts of works of art in verse and prose. Descriptions, characteristics, especially the so-called. comparative, often built antithetically. For example, the characterization of Peter the Great in Pushkin’s Stanzas: “Now an academician, now a hero, now a navigator, now a carpenter,” etc., Plyushkina before And Now in "Dead Souls", etc. Klyuchevsky, like many other historians-artists, willingly uses the antithesis in his characteristics, for example, Boris Godunov (this "worker tsar"), Alexei Mikhailovich (with a metaphorical expression of the main antithesis: "one with his foot he still firmly rested on his native Orthodox antiquity, and the other was already brought beyond its line, and he remained in this indecisive transitional position"), etc. An alternative type of antithesis underlies Hamlet's famous monologue "To be or not to be." A vivid example of a detailed antithesis is the oath of the Lermontov Demon: "I swear on the first day of creation, I swear on its last day." One of the most perfect examples of an antithetically constructed comparison in our poetry is the stanza: “Why does the wind spin in the ravine” from Pushkin’s “The Pedigree of My Hero”.

Antithesis, as a compositional principle, can also be spoken of in relation to the architectonics of major literary genres. Already the very titles of many dramas and novels point to this kind of antithetical structure: “Treachery and Love”, “War and Peace”, “Crime and Punishment”, etc. The figures of Napoleon and Kutuzov in Tolstoy, Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin, Aglaya and Nastasya Filippovna, or Dostoevsky's three brothers Karamazov, are contrasted antithetically in the architectonics of the whole.

M. Petrovsky. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel,1925

Synonyms:

contraposition, contrariety, opposition, juxtaposition, figure of speech

Antonyms:

juxtaposition, juxtaposition

Antithesis as a means of expression in literary works

In general, antithesis means a sharp opposition of images or judgments that are the opposite in essence, but interconnected by a common internal mechanism or meaning. In literary works, antithesis is the coordination of contrasting or completely opposite characteristics of images or concepts, which enhances the impression of what is read, makes the text brighter, more memorable, more alive.

Antithesis in the works of Pushkin, Yesenin, Nekrasov

For example, in the work of A. S. Pushkin, one can notice oppositions like “prose - poetry”, “stone - wave”, “flame - ice”. The antithesis in the works of S. A. Yesenin and N. A. Nekrasov already appears in the form of oxymorons “sad joy”, “poor luxury” and similar constructions.

The most vivid antithesis in the text is expressed in the presence of an exact logical subordination of the components of the structure. For example: “I caught up with blizzards while writing about summer”, “there was a frank conversation, but everyone was sick.”

However, literature is also replete with examples of a different kind, where the antithesis is bright even in the absence of logic: “praise sounds beautiful, but bitter”, “they sang well, but they didn’t stretch it out.” In these cases, the opposing concepts do not constitute logical pairs of opposites like “fire - water” or “light - darkness”, therefore there is no logical clarity characteristic of most proverbs and sayings. How does antithesis work? It's all about the context: it is he who makes the opposition not only relevant, but also striking.

How to make the antithesis bright and understandable, accurate and interesting?

1. With the help of a semantic contrast: "having distorted everything, we got to the point."
2. To express something in common with the help of a set of antithetical concepts. For example, the hero of Derzhavin, a man of contrast by nature, calls himself either a king or a slave.
3. An antithetical object can play the role of a secondary object, contrasted with the main object or image. The first component of the antithesis in this case names the main subject, and the second performs a service function: “Ideal forms do not need content.”
4. Present the comparison as several possible ways out of the situation: "to be or not to be - that is the question."
5. The sound recording works great, for example, "teach - get bored."

Antithesis- this is not necessarily the opposition of two images, it may contain three or more components. Such an antithesis is called polynomial.

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Antithesis means- opposition. Stylistic, or verbal antithesis - setting a number of words opposite in meaning, antonyms.

An example of an antithesis

“I decay in the dust with my body, I command the thunders with my mind, I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am a god!” (G.R. Derzhavin. God, 1784).

Verbal antithesis often makes up the title of a literary work., becoming an oxymoron: "Shine and poverty of courtesans" (1838-47) O. Balzac. figurative antithesis is opposition of elements of the artistic world of the work, primarily characters. In many myths, everything bright, good, useful in the world and everything dark, evil, hostile to living beings is personified in the images of the first creators of the Universe, twin brothers. Such are the ancient Iranian "Avesta" Ahuramazda (literally "the wise Lord") and the evil spirit Ahriman. Absolute antipodes appear in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601) as Hamlet's father and his brother and murderer Claudius. Compositional, factually meaningful antithesis: opposition of the idyllic and socio-critical parts in Pushkin's "The Village" (1819), the pathetic introduction and the story about the fate of the unfortunate petty official in his "The Bronze Horseman" (1833).

The word antithesis comes from Greek anti - against and thesis, which means position.

What is called figurativeness (colorfulness of descriptions, liveliness of the image, its clarity) is by and large an integral feature of any art. And since literature is one of its types, the active use of expressive means is most fully manifested in it. This goal is also served by the use of various popular expressions, as well as a whole arsenal of stylistic devices.

Stylistic devices

In the Russian language, there are a number of similar expressive means that help the author to increase the imagery of the narrative. Before telling what an antithesis is, consider the most common of them.

There are also anaphora and epiphora, metonymy and synecdoche, comparison and epithet.

Antithesis as a stylistic device. Her definition

In the language of fiction or oratory, a sharp opposition is often used, built on contrast. It is also used in relation to concepts and images, positions and states that are connected with each other by a common construction or internal meaning.

Let's define what an antithesis is. This is a stylistic figure that connects contrasting concepts. The word itself goes back to the Greek antithesis - opposition. This concept is so widespread that it is often not even noticed. Antithesis is widely used by poets and prose writers. Many literary works contain this technique even in their titles: "War and Peace", "The Prince and the Pauper", "Beauty and the Beast", "Crime and Punishment".

Many proverbs are built on the antithesis. For example, "the spool is small, but expensive."

Antithesis in literature

This stylistic device often serves to build not only phrases, but also individual parts and even a whole work of art - poetry or a play. For example, Petrarch has a sonnet, which is a wonderful example of what an antithesis is, i.e. built purely on this approach. Here is just one stanza from that piece:

“I am sighted - without eyes, dumb - I emit screams;

And the thirst for death - I pray to save;

I hate myself - and I love everyone else;

Suffering - alive; with laughter I sob ... "

Very often this technique was used by A.S. Pushkin. The well-known characteristic of the friendship between Onegin and Lensky: “wave and stone”, “poetry and prose”, “ice and fire”, is nothing but an antithesis. This is one of the brightest examples of the considered stylistic device in the literature.

Antithesis in the media

Turning to the language of newspapers and magazines, one cannot fail to see how popular this stylistic figure is in them. Journalists especially often use it in headlines, perhaps not even suspecting what an antithesis is as a rhetorical device. So, for example, such titles of articles sound very eloquent and bright: “The tail is the head of everything”, “The brilliance and poverty of our football”, “The rich janitor and the poor teacher”.

In the language of the press, the antithesis is also quite often used not only within the boundaries of a phrase, but within the framework of the entire semantic part of the text. Here it acts as a compositional device for its construction. Antithesis is such a mastered technique in literature and the media that often one does not even remember its, so to speak, oratorical origin. But in ancient times it was used specifically to enhance the expressiveness of speech.

Conclusion

Due to its sharpness, flashiness, the antithesis in the works has the ability to create a noticeable contrast. Because of this, different writers treat this technique differently. Some show a categorically negative point of view, while others, on the contrary, exploit it mercilessly.

It is precisely because of the utmost clarity that the reception of antithesis is very popular not only in the artistic and artistic-journalistic literary style, but also in the declarative-political one with an agitational tendency. This stylistic form is widely used in genres with a social bias, when it is necessary to clearly distinguish or compare, say, the life of different strata of society, different classes.