Basic artistic techniques. Artistic techniques in a poem

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What are artistic techniques for? First of all, in order for the work to correspond to a certain style, which implies a certain imagery, expressiveness and beauty. In addition, the writer is a master of associations, an artist of the word and a great contemplative. Artistic techniques in poetry and prose make the text deeper. Consequently, both the prose writer and the poet are not satisfied with just one layer of language; they are not limited to using only the superficial, basic meaning of the word. In order to be able to penetrate into the depth of thought, into the essence of the image, it is required to use various artistic means.

In addition, the reader must be lured and attracted. For this, various techniques are used that give special interest to the story and some mystery that needs to be unraveled. Artistic means are called differently paths. These are not only integral elements of the overall picture of the world, but also the author's assessment, background and general tone of the work, as well as muchsomething else that we sometimes don’t even think about while reading another creation.

The main artistic techniques are metaphor, epithet and comparison. Although the epithet is often regarded as a kind of metaphor, we will not go into the wilds of the science of "literary criticism" and traditionally single it out as a separate tool.

Epithet

The epithet is the king of description. Not a single landscape, portrait, interior is complete without it. Sometimes a single well-chosen epithet is much more important than a whole paragraph created specifically for clarification. Most often, when talking about it, we mean participles or adjectives that endow this or that artistic image with additional properties and characteristics. An epithet should not be confused with a simple definition.

So, for example, the following words can be proposed to describe the eyes: lively, brown, bottomless, large, made up, crafty. Let's try to divide these adjectives into two groups, namely: objective (natural) properties and subjective (additional) characteristic. We will see that words such as "big", "brown" and "made up" convey in their meaning only what anyone can see, since it lies on the surface. In order for us to imagine the appearance of a particular hero, such definitions are very important. However, it is the “bottomless”, “live”, “cunning” eyes that will tell us best of all about his inner essence, character. We begin to suspect that we have an unusual person in front of us, prone to variousinventions, having a living, mobile soul. This is precisely the main property of epithets: to indicate those features that are hidden from us during the initial examination.

Metaphor

Let's move on to another equally important trope - metaphor. This is a hidden comparison expressed by a noun. The author's task here is to compare phenomena and objects, but very carefully and tactfully, so that the reader cannot guess that we are imposing this object on him. That's right, insinuatingly and naturally, you need to use any artistic techniques. Examples of metaphor: "tears of dew", "fire of dawn", etc. Here, dew is compared to tears, and dawn is compared to fire.

Comparison

The last important artistic device is a comparison, given directly by using such conjunctions as "as if", "like", "as if", "exactly", "as if". Examples include the following: eyes like life; dew, like tears; tree like an old man. However, it should be noted that the use of an epithet, metaphor or comparison should not only be for the sake of a "red word". There should be no chaos in the text, it should gravitate towards grace and harmony, therefore, before using this or that trope, you need to clearly understand the purpose for which it is used, what we want to say.

Other, more complex and less common artistic techniques are hyperbole (exaggeration), antithesis (opposition), and inversion (reverse orderwords).

Antithesis

Such a trope as an antithesis has two varieties: it can be narrow (within one paragraph or sentence) and expanded (placed on several chapters or pages). This technique is often used in the works of Russian classics when it is required to compare two characters. For example, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in his story "The Captain's Daughter" compares Pugachev and Grinev, and a little later Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol will create portraits of the famous brothers, Andriy and Ostap, also based on the antithesis. Artistic devices in the novel "Oblomov" also include this trope.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a favorite technique of such literary genres as epic, fairy tale and ballad. But it is found not only in them. For example, the hyperbole "he could eat a boar" can be used in any novel, short story, and other work of the realistic tradition.

Invert

Let's continue to describe the artistic techniques in the works. Inversion, as you might guess, serves to give the work additional emotionality. It is most often observed in poetry, but often this trope is also used in prose. You can say: "This girl was more beautiful than the others." And you can shout out: "This girl was more beautiful than the others!" Immediately there is enthusiasm, and expression, and much more, which can be seen when comparing two statements.

Irony

The next trope, irony, in a different way - a hidden author's mockery, is also used quite often in fiction. Of course, a serious work must be serious, but the subtext hidden in irony sometimes not only demonstrates the wit of the writer, but also forces the reader to take a breath and prepare for the next, more intense scene. In a humorous work, irony is indispensable. The great masters of this means of artistic expression are Zoshchenko and Chekhov, who use this trope in their stories.

Sarcasm

This technique is closely related to another one - sarcasm. This is no longer just good laughter, it reveals shortcomings and vices, sometimes exaggerates, while irony usually creates a bright atmosphere. In order to have a more complete picture of this trail, you can read several fairy tales by S altykov-Shchedrin.

Incarnation

The next move is impersonation. It allows us to demonstrate the life of the world around us. There are images such as grumbling winter, dancing snow, singing water. In other words, personification is the transfer of the properties of animate objects to inanimate objects. So, we all know that only a person and an animal can yawn. But in literature, such artistic images as a yawning sky or a yawning door are often found. The first of them can help create a certain mood in the reader, prepare his perception. The second is to emphasize the sleepy atmosphere in this house, perhaps loneliness and boredom.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is another interesting technique, which is a combination of incongruous. This is a righteous lie, and hot ice, and an Orthodox devil. Such words, chosen quite unexpectedly, can be used by both science fiction writers and lovers of philosophical treatises. Sometimes just one oxymoron is enough to build a whole work that has both the dualism of being, and an insoluble conflict, and subtle ironic overtones.

Other artistic techniques

It is interesting that the "and, and, and" used in the previous sentence is also one of the artistic means called polyunion. What is it for? First of all, to expand the narrative range and show, for example, that a person has both beauty, and intelligence, and courage, and charm … And the hero can also fish, swim, write books, and build houses …

Most often this trope is used together with another, called "series of homogeneous members". This is the case when it is difficult to imagine one without the other.

However, this is not all artistic techniques and means. Let's take a look at the rhetorical questions. They do not require an answer, but at the same time they make readers think. Perhaps everyone knows the most famous of them: "Who is to blame?" and "What to do?".

These are just basic artistic techniques. In addition to them, one can single out parceling (sentence division), synecdoche (when a single number is usedinstead of plural), anaphora (a similar beginning of sentences), epiphora (repeating their endings), litotes (understatement) and hyperbole (on the contrary, exaggeration), periphrase (when a certain word is replaced by its brief description. All these tools can be used both in poetry and and in prose. Artistic devices in a poem and, for example, a story, do not fundamentally differ.