Element of composition in a work of art: examples

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

Today we are talking on the topic: "Traditional elements of the composition." But first you need to remember what a "composition" is. For the first time we meet this term in school. But everything flows, everything changes, gradually even the strongest knowledge is erased. Therefore, we read, we stir up the old, and we fill in the missing gaps.

Composition in Literature

What is composition? First of all, we turn to the explanatory dictionary for help and find out that in a literal translation from Latin, this term means “composing, writing”. Needless to say, without "composing", that is, without "composition", no work of art is possible (examples follow) and no text as a whole. From this it follows that the composition in literature is a certain order of arrangement of parts of a work of art. In addition, these are certain forms and methods of artistic representation that are directly related to the content of the text.

The main elements of the composition

When we open a book, the first thing we hope forand what we are looking forward to is a beautiful entertaining story that will surprise or keep us in suspense, and then not let go for a long time, forcing us to mentally return to what we read again and again. In this sense, a writer is a real artist who primarily shows, not tells. He avoids direct text like: "And now I will tell." On the contrary, his presence is invisible, unobtrusive. But what do you need to know and be able to do for such a skill?

Compositional elements - this is the palette in which the artist - the master of the word, mixes his colors in order to get a bright, colorful plot in the future. These include: monologue, dialogue, description, narration, system of images, author's digression, inserted genres, plot, plot. Further - about each of them in more detail.

Monologue speech

Depending on how many people or characters in a work of art are involved in speech - one, two or more - monologue, dialogue and polylogue are distinguished. The latter is a kind of dialogue, so we will not dwell on it. Consider only the first two.

A monologue is an element of the composition, which consists in the use by the author of the speech of one character, which does not require an answer or does not receive one. As a rule, she is addressed to the audience in a dramatic work or to herself.

Depending on the function in the text, there are such types of monologue as: technical - a description by the hero of events that have occurred or are currently taking place; lyric -transfer by the hero of his strong emotional experiences; acceptance monologue - the internal reflections of a character who is faced with a difficult choice.

The following types are distinguished by form: author's word - the author's appeal to readers, most often through one or another character; stream of consciousness - the free flow of the hero's thoughts as they are, without obvious logic and not adhering to the rules of literary construction of speech; dialectic of reasoning - the hero's presentation of all the pros and cons; dialogue in solitude - a mental appeal of a character to another character; apart - in dramaturgy, a few words to the side that characterize the present state of the hero; stanzas are also in dramaturgy the lyrical reflections of a character.

Dialogue speech

Dialogue is another element of the composition, a conversation between two or more characters. Dialogic speech is usually the ideal means of conveying the clash of two opposing points of view. It also helps to create an image, revealing personality, character.

Here I want to talk about the so-called dialogue of questions, which involves a conversation consisting exclusively of questions, and the response of one of the characters is both a question and an answer to the previous remark at the same time. A work of art (examples follow) by Khanmagomedov Aidyn Asadullaevich "Goryanka" is a vivid confirmation of this.

Description

What is a person? This is a special character, and individuality, and a unique appearance, and the environment in which he was born, brought up andexists at a given moment of life, and his house, and the things with which he surrounds himself, and people, far and near, and the nature surrounding him … The list can be continued indefinitely. Therefore, when creating an image in a literary work, the writer must look at his hero from all possible sides and describe, without missing a single detail, even more - create new “shades” that are impossible to even imagine. In the literature, the following types of artistic descriptions are distinguished: portrait, interior, landscape.

Portrait

This is one of the most important compositional elements in literature. He describes not only the appearance of the hero, but also his inner world - the so-called psychological portrait. The place of a portrait in a work of art is also different. A book can begin with it or, conversely, end with it (A. P. Chekhov, "Ionych"). A description of the appearance can also be immediately after the character performs some act (Lermontov, "A Hero of Our Time"). In addition, the author can draw a character in one fell swoop, monolithically (Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment", Prince Andrei in "War and Peace"), and another time and disperse the features in the text ("War and Peace", Natasha Rostova). Basically, the writer himself takes up the brush, but sometimes he grants this right to one of the characters, for example, Maxim Maksimych in the novel A Hero of Our Time, so that he describes Pechorin as accurately as possible. The portrait can be written ironically (Ippolit Kuragin), satirically (Napoleon in "War and Peace") and "ceremonially". Under the magnifying glassthe author sometimes gets only a face, a certain detail or the whole thing - a figure, manners, gestures, clothes (Oblomov).

Interior description

The interior is an element of the composition of the novel, allowing the author to create a description of the hero's home. It is no less valuable than a portrait, since a description of the type of premises, furnishings, atmosphere prevailing in the house - all this plays an invaluable role in conveying the characteristics of the character, in understanding the entire depth of the created image. The interior also reveals a close connection with the artistic detail, which is the part through which the whole is known, and the individual through which the plural is seen. So, for example, Dostoevsky in the novel "The Idiot" in the gloomy house of Rogozhin "hung" Holbein's painting "Dead Christ", in order to once again draw attention to the irreconcilable struggle of true faith with passions, with unbelief in Rogozhin's soul.

Landscape - description of nature

As Fyodor Tyutchev wrote, nature is not what we imagine, it is not soulless. On the contrary, a lot is hidden in it: the soul, and freedom, and love, and language. The same can be said about the landscape in a literary work. The author, using such an element of composition as a landscape, depicts not only nature, terrain, city, architecture, but thereby reveals the state of the character, and contrasts the naturalness of nature with conditional human beliefs, acts as a kind of symbol.

Remember the description of the oak during Prince Andrei's trip to the Rostovs' house in the novel "War and Peace". What was he (oak) like at the very beginning of the journey - an old, gloomy, "contemptuous freak" amongbirches smiling at the world and spring. But at the second meeting, he suddenly blossomed, renewed, despite the hundred-year-old hard bark. He still submitted to spring and life. The oak tree in this episode is not only a landscape, a description of nature reviving after a long winter, but also a symbol of the changes that have taken place in the prince’s soul, a new stage in his life, which managed to “break” the desire to be an outcast of life until the end of his days, which was already almost rooted in him..

Narrative

Unlike description, which is static, nothing happens in it, nothing changes and in general it answers the question "what?" his is "what happened?". Speaking figuratively, the narrative as an element of the composition of a work of art can be represented as a slide show - a quick change of pictures illustrating a plot.

Skin system

Just as each person has their own network of lines on the fingertips, forming a unique pattern, so each work has its own unique system of images. This includes the image of the author, if any, the image of the narrator, the main characters, antipodes, secondary characters, and so on. Their relationship is built depending on the ideas and goals of the author.

Author's digression

Or a lyrical digression is the so-called extra-plot element of the composition, with the help of which the author's personality, as it were, bursts into the plot, thereby interruptingthe immediate course of the story. What is it for? First of all, to establish a special emotional contact between the author and the reader. Here the writer no longer acts as a storyteller, but opens his soul, raises deeply personal questions, discusses moral, aesthetic, philosophical topics, shares memories from his own life. Thus, the reader manages to take a breath before the flow of the following events, to stop and delve deeper into the idea of the work, to think about the questions posed to him.

Insert genres

This is another important compositional element, which is not only a necessary part of the plot, but also serves as a more voluminous, deeper disclosure of the hero's personality, helps to understand the reason for his particular life choice, his inner world, and so on. Any genre of literature can be inserted. For example, stories are the so-called story in a story (the novel "The Hero of Our Time"), poems, novels, poems, songs, fables, letters, parables, diaries, sayings, proverbs and many others. They can be either your own composition or someone else's.

Story and plot

These two concepts are often either confused or mistakenly believed to be the same thing. But they must be distinguished. The plot is, one might say, the skeleton, the basis of the book, in which all parts are interconnected and follow one after the other in the order that is necessary for the full realization of the author's intention, the disclosure of the idea. In other words, the events in the plot canoccur at different time periods. The plot is that basis, but in a more concise form, and plus - the sequence of events in their strictly chronological order. For example, birth, childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age, death - this is the plot, then the plot is maturity, memories from childhood, adolescence, youth, lyrical digressions, old age and death.

Story composition

The plot, just like the literary work itself, has its own stages of development. At the center of any plot there is always a conflict around which the main events develop.

The book begins with an exposition or prologue, that is, with an "explanation", a description of the situation, the starting point from which it all began. This is followed by a plot, one might say, foresight of future events. At this stage, the reader begins to realize that a future conflict is just around the corner. As a rule, it is in this part that the main characters meet, who are destined to go through the coming trials together, side by side.

We continue to list the elements of the plot composition. The next step is action development. Usually this is the most significant piece of text. Here the reader already becomes an invisible participant in the events, he is familiar with everyone, he feels the essence of what is happening, but is still intrigued. Gradually, the centrifugal force sucks him in, slowly, unexpectedly for himself, he finds himself in the very center of the whirlpool. The climax comes - the very peak, when a real storm of feelings and a sea of \u200b\u200bemotions falls upon both the main characters and the reader himself. And then, when it is already clear thatthe worst is behind and you can breathe, the denouement is softly knocking on the door. She chews everything, explains every detail, puts all things on the shelves - each in its place, and the tension slowly subsides. The epilogue draws the final line and briefly outlines the further life of the main and secondary characters. However, not all plots have the same structure. The traditional elements of a fairy tale composition are completely different.

Fairy tale

The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. Which? The elements of the composition of the fairy tale are radically different from their "brothers", although when reading, easy and relaxed, you do not notice this. This is the talent of a writer or even an entire nation. As Alexander Sergeevich instructed, it is simply necessary to read fairy tales, especially folk tales, because they contain all the properties of the Russian language.

So, what are the traditional elements of a fairy tale composition? The first words are a saying that sets you in a fabulous mood and promises a lot of miracles. For example: “This fairy tale will be told from the morning itself until lunchtime, after eating soft bread …” When the listeners relax, sit down more comfortably and are ready to listen further, the time has come for the beginning - the beginning. The main characters, place and time of action are introduced, and another line is drawn that divides the world into two parts - real and magical.

Next comes the tale itself, in which repetitions are often found to enhance the impression and gradually approach the denouement. In addition, poems, songs, onomatopoeia by animals,Dialogues are also integral elements of the composition of a fairy tale. The fairy tale also has its own ending, which seems to sum up all the miracles, but at the same time hints at the infinity of the magical world: “They live, live and make good.”