The role of antithesis in literature. What is antithesis for and what is it
Contrast, a stylistic figure of contrast in artistic or oratory speech, which consists in a sharp opposition of concepts, positions, images, states, interconnected by a common structure or internal meaning.
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Antithesis in literature
The figure of antithesis can serve as a principle of construction for entire poetic plays or separate parts of works of art in verse and prose. For example, Petrarch F. has a sonnet (translated by Verkhovsky Yu. N.), entirely built on the antithesis:
And there is no peace - and there are no enemies anywhere;
I fear - I hope, I freeze and burn;
I drag myself in the dust - and soar in the sky;
Alien to everyone in the world - and the world is ready to embrace.She is in captivity of captivity, I do not know;
They do not want to own me, but the oppression is severe;
Cupid does not destroy and does not break the shackles;
And there is no end to life and torment - the edge.I am sighted - without eyes; nem - I emit cries;
And the thirst for death - I pray to save;
I hate myself - and I love everyone else;
Suffering - alive; with laughter I sob;Both death and life are sadly cursed;
And this is the fault, oh donna, - you!
Descriptions, characteristics, especially the so-called comparative ones, are often built antithetically.
For example, the characterization of Peter the Great in Pushkin's Stanzas A. S.:
Now an academician, then a hero,
Either a navigator, or a carpenter ...
Sharply shading the contrasting features of the compared members, the antithesis, precisely because of its sharpness, is distinguished by too persistent persuasiveness and brightness (for which the romantics loved this figure so much). Many stylists therefore treated the antithesis negatively, and on the other hand, poets with rhetorical pathos, such as Hugo or Mayakovsky, are noticeably fond of it:
Our strength is truth
yours - laurel ringing.
Yours is censer smoke,
ours is factory smoke.
Your power is a gold piece,
ours is a red banner.
We will take,
let's borrow
and we will win.
The symmetry and analytical nature of the antithesis make it very appropriate in some strict forms, as, for example, in the Alexandrian verse, with its clear division into two parts.
The sharp clarity of the antithesis also makes it very suitable for the style of works that strive for immediate persuasiveness, as, for example, in works of declarative political, with a social tendency, agitational or moralistic, etc. Examples can serve.
ANTITHESIS
- (from the Greek anti - against and thesis - position) - opposition, creating the effect of a sharp contrast of images (for example, Bazarov and P.P. Kirsanov, Oblomov and Stolz), compositional (for example, A.S. Pushkin's "Village") or plot (for example, the alternation of "military" and "peaceful" episodes in L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace") elements of the work. Antonyms are often used to express A., for example: "War and Peace", "Crime and Punishment", "Thick and Thin", etc.
Dictionary of literary terms. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what is ANTITHESIS in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- ANTITHESIS in the Literary Encyclopedia:
[Greek '????????? - opposition] - one of the methods of stylistics (see "Figures"), which consists in comparing specific ideas and concepts related ... - ANTITHESIS in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(from the Greek antithesis - opposition) a stylistic figure, a comparison or opposition of contrasting concepts, positions, images ("I am a king, - I am a slave, - ... - ANTITHESIS in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
(from the Greek antithesis - opposition), in fiction, a stylistic figure, a juxtaposition of sharply contrasting or opposite concepts and images to enhance ... - ANTITHESIS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
(Greek) - literally opposition, means in rhetoric a figure that consists in comparing two opposite, but interconnected by a common point of view, ideas. For example, ... - ANTITHESIS in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(from the Greek antithesis - opposition), a stylistic figure, co- or opposition of contrasting concepts, states, images ("Beautiful, like an angel in heaven, like a demon, ... - ANTITHESIS
[from French antithese, ancient Greek antithesis opposition] in stylistics, the opposition of opposing thoughts or images to enhance the impression (for example: "who was nothing, ... - ANTITHESIS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, s, f. 1. Opposition, opposite. The proposed concept was the antithesis of the entire previous scientific tradition. 2. lit. A stylistic figure consisting of… - ANTITHESIS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
[te], -s, f. 1. A stylistic figure based on a sharp opposition, opposition of images and concepts (special). Poetic a. "ice and fire"... - ANTITHESIS in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ANTITHESIS (from the Greek antithesis - opposition), stylistic. a figure, co- or opposition of contrasting concepts, positions, images ("I am a king, - I am a slave, - I ... - ANTITHESIS in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
(Greek) ? literally "opposition", means in rhetoric a figure that consists in comparing two opposite, but interconnected by a common point of view ... - ANTITHESIS in the Full accentuated paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
antithesis for, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, antithesis, ... - ANTITHESIS in the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms:
(Greek antithesis - opposition). A stylistic figure that serves to enhance the expressiveness of speech by sharply contrasting concepts, thoughts, images. Where is the table... - ANTITHESIS in the Popular Explanatory-Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
[t "e], -s, f., bookish. Opposition, opposite. The antithesis is impressive - a sharp opposition: "You taught literacy, I went to school. You … - ANTITHESIS in the Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary:
- ANTITHESIS in the New Dictionary of Foreign Words:
(gr. antithesis opposition) a stylistic figure consisting in the comparison of words or word groups that are sharply different in meaning, for example. : great... - ANTITHESIS in the Dictionary of Foreign Expressions:
[gr. antithesis opposition] a stylistic figure consisting in the comparison of words or word groups that are sharply different in meaning, for example: (distance); A. typical ... - ANTITHESIS in the Russian Thesaurus:
Syn: opposite (lit.), opposite, contrast Ant: ... - ANTITHESIS in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
Syn: opposite (lit.), opposite, contrast Ant: ... - ANTITHESIS in the New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language Efremova:
1. g. 1) Opposite, opposition. 2) A stylistic device that consists in juxtaposing opposite or sharply contrasting concepts and images. 2. g. … - ANTITHESIS in the Dictionary of the Russian Language Lopatin:
antithesis, ... - ANTITHESIS in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
antithesis... - ANTITHESIS in the Spelling Dictionary:
antithesis, ... - ANTITHESIS in the Dictionary of the Russian Language Ozhegov:
opposition,...
Antithesis in literature
The figure of antithesis can serve as a principle of construction for entire poetic plays or separate parts of works of art in verse and prose. For example, Petrarch F. has a sonnet (translated by Verkhovsky Yu. N.), entirely built on the antithesis:
And there is no peace - and there are no enemies anywhere;
I fear - I hope, I freeze and burn;
I drag myself in the dust - and soar in the sky;
Alien to everyone in the world - and the world is ready to embrace.She is in captivity of captivity, I do not know;
They do not want to own me, but the oppression is severe;
Cupid does not destroy and does not break the shackles;
And there is no end to life and torment - the edge.I am sighted - without eyes; nem - I emit cries;
And the thirst for death - I pray to save;
I hate myself - and I love everyone else;
Suffering - alive; with laughter I sob;Both death and life are sadly cursed;
And this is the fault, oh donna, - you!
Descriptions, characteristics, especially the so-called comparative ones, are often built antithetically.
For example, the characterization of Peter the Great in A.S. Pushkin's Stanzas:
Now an academician, then a hero,
Either a navigator, or a carpenter ...
Sharply shading the contrasting features of the compared members, the antithesis, precisely because of its sharpness, is distinguished by too persistent persuasiveness and brightness (for which the romantics loved this figure so much). Many stylists therefore treated the antithesis negatively, and on the other hand, poets with rhetorical pathos, such as Hugo or Mayakovsky, are noticeably fond of it:
Our strength is truth
yours - laurel ringing.
Yours is censer smoke,
ours is factory smoke.
Your power is a gold piece,
ours is a red banner.
We will take,
let's borrow
and we will win.
The symmetry and analytical nature of the antithesis make it very appropriate in some strict forms, as, for example, in the Alexandrian verse, with its clear division into two parts.
The sharp clarity of the antithesis also makes it very suitable for the style of works that strive for immediate persuasiveness, as, for example, in works of declarative political, with a social tendency, agitational or moralistic, etc. Examples are:
The proletarians have nothing to lose in it except their chains. They will gain the whole world.
Who was nobody, he will become everything!
The antithetical composition is often observed in social novels and plays when contrasting the life of different classes (for example: The Iron Heel by J. London, The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, etc.); antithesis can underlie works depicting a moral tragedy (for example.
Antithesis (Greek antithesis - opposition) - a comparison of opposite objects, concepts, phenomena, as well as compositional components (characters, images, landscapes, artistic details, etc.).
In their work, to enhance the imagery and expressiveness of speech, writers use special means called stylistic figures. Figure is an unusual construction of a sentence or a turn of speech, a special syntactic design of a phrase. One of the figurative and expressive means of speech is antithesis.
Refers to syntactic amplification figures. Antithesis example: "I swear on the first day of creation, I swear on its last day"(M.Yu. Lermontov); “They came together: wave and stone, Poetry and prose, ice and fire Not so different from each other”(A.S. Pushkin).
A whole work can be built on the use of antithesis. N. Zabolotsky has a philosophical poem "Swan at the Zoo", in which the poet contrasts the small oasis of the zoo, where a beautiful white swan lives, and the noisy metropolis with the screeching of trams, the squeal of car tires and the rumble of the bridge.
A kind of antithesis is an oxymoron (Greek oxymoron - acute stupidity) - a deliberate combination of opposite words in order to introduce a new concept (“dead souls” - N.V. Gogol, “sad joy” - S.A. Yesenin, "poor luxury" - N.A. Nekrasov).
Examples of antithesis in fiction
Let the moon shine - the night is dark.
May life bring happiness to people -
Spring in my soul of love
Will not change the stormy bad weather.
(A. Blok)
They came together: wave and stone,
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
(A.S. Pushkin)
You are a prose writer - I am a poet,
You are rich, I am very poor
You are blush like a poppy color,
I'm like death, and thin and pale.
(A.S. Pushkin)
Our strength is truth
yours - laurel ringing.
Yours is censer smoke,
Ours is factory smoke.
Your power is a gold piece,
Ours is a red banner,
We will take,
let's borrow
and we will win.
(V. Mayakovsky)
All this would be funny
When would not be so sad.
(M. Lermontov)
The concept of "antithesis" comes from the ancient Greek term, consisting of two parts: "thesa", which means "position", and "anti" - "against". Putting them together, we get the "opposite", that is, the "opposite". The antithesis, the definition and examples of which we will present to you in this article, is the opposition of composition elements, characters, images, words. This is an artistic technique in literature, which allows the writers and poets who use it to characterize the characters more fully, to reveal the author's attitude to different sides of the depicted, as well as to the characters themselves.
Condition required for antithesis
The essential condition necessary for one to be able to speak of such a technique as antithesis (examples of which we will give below) is subordination to the general concept of opposites, or some common point of view on them.
Such subordination does not have to be logically precise. For example, such proverbs as "Small spool, but expensive", "Rarely, but aptly", are constructed antithetically, although the concepts that are opposed in them cannot be called logically subordinate, such as, for example, "beginning" and "end", "light and darkness".
But in this context, they are considered as opposites because the words "small" and "rarely" are taken with a specification of the meaning in relation to the words "expensive" and "accurately" compared with them, taken in the direct meaning. Entering the antithesis, the tropes can hide even more its logical precision and clarity.
Verbal antithesis
There are many examples of this technique being used. Verbal antithesis occurs when certain phrases or words with opposite emotional coloring or meaning are combined in one sentence or in a poetic phrase.
Take, for example, an excerpt from a poem by A.S. Pushkin:
"The city is magnificent, the city is poor
The spirit of bondage, a slender appearance ... ".
In the first line here, the antithesis ("poor" - "magnificent") of the epithets matched to the word "city" expresses Alexander Sergeevich's idea of Petersburg, which is concretized in the second line by the antithesis of the corresponding epithets. Here, the external appearance of the city (in the text - "slender appearance") and the spiritual content of its life ("the spirit of bondage") are contrasted. In another poem by the same author, verbal antitheses are used to emphasize the inconsistency with the spirit of the "poor knight" of his appearance. It is said about this hero that he was "pale" and "twilight" in appearance, but "straight" and "bold" in spirit. Such opposition is a verbal antithesis. Examples of it in the literature are quite common.
An antithesis expressing complex emotional states
The antithesis serves to express not only the sides of the phenomenon and the object, as well as the author's emotionally colored attitude towards them, but also various complex emotional states. An example can be found in A.A. Blok in the poem "In the restaurant". The lyrical hero of the work met his beloved in the restaurant "impudently" and "embarrassedly", bowing with a "haughty look".
Often, various verbal antitheses are oxymorons. In other words, it is a combination of words that are opposite in meaning.
figurative antithesis
A figurative antithesis is a contrast that exists between two different images. It could be the characters in the story. Examples of antithesis from fiction are numerous: these are Lensky and Onegin, Molchalin and Chatsky, Stepan Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich, Pavel Petrovich and Bazarov, Napoleon and Kutuzov, and others. Pushkin's "Village"), in addition, to the disharmony of the hero's soul and universal harmony (Lermontov, "I go out alone on the road"), the image of free nature and the "dungeon" monastery (Lermontov, "Mtsyri"), etc. Figurative antithesis , examples of which we have just given, was a favorite technique of such a master of the style as Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.
Compositional antithesis
There is also such a variation of this technique as compositional antithesis. This is one of the principles on which literary works are built. Compositional antithesis is the opposition of various episodes and storylines, scenes in dramaturgy and epic, stanzas and fragments in lyrical poems. Take as an example the novel by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Eugene Onegin".
In it, in the third and fourth chapters, the failed relationship between Onegin and Tatiana is contrasted with the “happy love” of Lensky and Olga. In Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, the antithesis of two conflicts (love and ideological) allows us to understand the true meaning of the views and beliefs of the nihilist Yevgeny Bazarov, as well as the main reason why they collapsed. Other examples can be cited.
Antithesis from literature presented in lyric poems
This technique is also widely used in various lyrical poems. For Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, these are, for example, "Elegy", "Poet and Crowd", "Poet", "Village" (an example of antithesis in Alexander Sergeyevich's poems is the opposition of the slavery of the people and a peaceful landscape), "To Chaadaev". Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov - "Poet", "Sail", "Dream", "Dispute", "Gratitude", "Why", "January 1st", "Leaf", "To the portrait". Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov - "Reflections at the front door", "Railway" and others.
