Anaphora in literature, types and features

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

Means of expression are techniques that make literature more emotional, and oral speech richer and more colorful. These artistic paths are studied at school, but the program does not give a complete understanding of what they are for and how they work. Anaphora is one of the most famous and easily remembered means. This is a classic stylistic device that is most often found in lyrical literary works and in poetry.

What is anaphora

In another way, this means of artistic expression is called monogamy. It consists in various kinds of repetitions at the beginning of parts of the work, usually half-verses, verses or paragraphs.

The definition of what an anaphora is in literature, given in the Dictionary of Literary Terms by N. I. Ryabkova, sounds like this:

A stylistic figure consisting in the repetition of the initial parts (sound, word, phrase, sentence) of two or more independent segments of speech.

Functions of anaphora

Usually examples of anaphora from fiction can be found inpoems, ditties, poems, songs and other works. It is this literary genre - poetry - that is characterized by expression, an emphasis on the feelings and experiences of the lyrical hero. The image of the inner world occurs through linguistic means. Anaphora in literature serves to enhance the emotional component of the narrative and introduces into it an element of liveliness and vigor. For example, in A. S. Pushkin's poem "Cloud":

The last cloud of scattered storm!

Alone you rush through clear azure, You alone cast a sad shadow, Alone you sadden the jubilant day.

In this work, intonational and contextual stress falls on the word "one" due to its repetition, which indicates the state of the inner world of the lyrical hero. In this poem, the semantic emphasis is on the fact that the cloud is the only negative factor, which gives the verse an expressive and accusatory color.

Examples of anaphora from literature and not only

Anaphora is a means of artistic expression, so it is much less common in popular science literature or official documents, like any other means of expression. Moreover, this technique has too strong emotional coloring, unacceptable for some styles. One can draw examples of anaphora from literature, including both poetry and prose, or from public speeches or letters.

For example, anaphora was used in V. V. Putin's speech to give solemnity, persuasiveness and penetration to his words:

Needtogether with you to continue the initiated transformations. So that in every city, in every village, on every street, in every house and in the life of every Russian person, changes for the better take place.

To observe how the emotional coloring changes, you can remove it from this passage: "… in every city, village, street, house and life of a Russian person, there were changes for the better." Without lexical repetition, this enumeration loses its expressive weight and emphasis.

An example of anaphora in prose is present, for example, in an article by Academician D. S. Likhachev:

If a man on the street lets an unfamiliar woman in front of him (even on the bus!) And even opens the door for her, and at home does not help his tired wife wash the dishes, he is an ill-mannered person. If he is polite with acquaintances, and gets irritated with his family for every reason, he is an ill-mannered person. If he does not take into account the character, psychology, habits and desires of his loved ones, he is an ill-mannered person. If, already in adulthood, he takes the help of his parents for granted and does not notice that they themselves already need help, he is an ill-mannered person.

Here, too, there is a strengthening of the enumeration, an emphasis on the importance of each individual example considered in the passage. Thus, the situations that the author mentions become not part of one semantic construction, but different passages with their own contextual energy, which forces the reader to pay separate attention to each of them, and not to alltogether.

Poetry contains the most extensive number of examples of unity. It is in the lyrics that expression comes to the place more often than in other literary genres. An example of an anaphora in a poem by A. S. Pushkin:

By Odd and Odd, By the sword and the right fight…

In a specific example, the anaphora is expressed by the verb "I swear". By itself, it carries a solemn connotation, but the repetition enhances it.

Types of anaphora

Anaphora happens:

• sonic;
• lexical;
• syntactic;
• morpheme;
• rhythmic.

A sound anaphora in literature is a repetition of a sound or a group of sounds at the beginning of a paragraph, if it is prose, or a verse, if it is a poem, for example, in the work of Alexander Blok "Oh, spring! without end and without edge …":

Oh, spring without end and without edge

Endless dream!

I recognize you, life! Accept!

And welcome with the sound of the shield!

Paired sounds [h] - [s] are repeated, associated with a light spring breeze, which corresponds to the idea and context of the poem.

A lexical anaphora is a repetition of a lexical unit, a whole word or a particle. This species is the most common and most easily recognized by the reader. For example, in a poem by Sergei Yesenin:

The winds did not blow in vain, The storm was not in vain…

Syntactic is a special caselexical anaphora, when whole syntactic constructions are repeated, for example, sentences or parts of a sentence, as in Athanasius Fet's poem:

Only in the world and there is that shady

Sleeping maple tent, Only in the world is that radiant

Children's thoughtful look.

Morphemic anaphora in literature implies the repetition of any part of a word - a morpheme, for example, in M. Yu. Lermontov:

Black-eyed girl, Black-Maned Horse…

In this case, the root "black-" is repeated, combining "girl" and "horse" in features.

Rhythmic anaphora is when a rhythmic pattern is repeated at the beginning of a verse or stanza. A vivid example of this is in the work of Nikolai Gumilyov:

Bewitching the Queen

Infinite Russia.

This type of anaphora is used only in poetry, as there is no rhythm in prose.

Anaphora in English

Single-heartedness is a universal stylistic device and is used not only in Russia. Anaphora in literature in other languages is also often found, especially in songs, and has the same functions as in Russian.

My heart's in the Highlands, My heart is not here, My heart's in theHighlands, A chasing the dear.

This passage uses lexical aspect.

This technique was not neglected by Winston Churchill himself, actively using it in his speeches and speeches. It was also used by Martin Luther King in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.