A comparison is a figurative phrase or some kind of expanded structure that involves a comparison of two concepts, phenomena or states that have a common feature. Due to the common feature, the individual effect and artistic significance of what is being compared is enhanced.
The act of comparison appears to be at the very origins of the poetic image. This is its initial form, from which all other types of small verbal imagery naturally flow: metaphor, metonymy, parallelism, etc. Comparison contains the very essence of figurative thinking, its synthesizing character in the comprehension of existence. Artistic thought, like comparison, always correlates and brings together what is separated by the boundaries of time and space. It creates a picture of a single world in which all objects and phenomena are covered by an all-pervasive connection. “Everything in the universe is connected, has a relationship with each other, corresponds to one another,” Goethe said in conversations with Eckermann, as if making it clear that the universe itself is like a grandiose work of art. In order for comparison to arise, this initial act of artistic thought, it was necessary for human thinking to overcome the feeling of disunity of objects, so that it began to connect, connect them, looking for common features in heterogeneous things.
We can say that the comparison contains, as it were, an elementary model of a work of art. After all, a work lives only by comparisons of images, characters, details; everything in it is comparable. Comparing, juxtaposing train of thought is not only the basis of artistic thinking, but also the basis of our perception of art.
Comparison brings objects and phenomena of life together in order to concretize what is depicted, because the concrete, as we know, is always fuller and richer than the abstract. Comparison is always a discovery: it suddenly reveals something common where at first only different things were seen. Here the artist’s vigilance triumphs, and the more unusual the comparison, the stronger the impression of discovery.
It looked like a clear evening:
Neither day nor night, neither darkness nor light...
This is how Lermontov depicts the state of the Demon’s soul on the verge of crisis: light and darkness in it are not just in conflict, they are already close to a state of equilibrium, and it seems that the soul needs only one strong push for it to find peace and faith. The meeting with Tamara was such an impetus for the Demon. At the same time, the comparison with the evening seems to anticipate the ending of the poem: the evening balance of the Demon’s soul turned out to be short-lived, followed by a spiritual night.
In comparison, the act of comparison is formally enshrined. The objects being compared are brought closer and at the same time retain their boundaries. This is expressed grammatically using certain words: as, as if, like, as if, similar to, etc.
Comparison in literature, like an epithet, is always an indicator of the tenacity and freshness of a writer’s vision (external and “internal”). But, like an epithet, it often presupposes the choice of a certain sphere of life from which the material is drawn. This choice itself speaks volumes, not only about the artist’s personal preferences, but sometimes about the way of life of an entire people, about their value system. A whole cascade of comparisons that poured into the “Song of Solomon”, where the beauty of Sulamith is depicted, speaks not only of her irresistible beauty, but also of the nature of the life of the ancient Jews, in particular, that they lived by agriculture and cattle breeding. It is from these spheres that comparisons are drawn, in which all the fullness, luxury and earthly power of being are embodied - a reflection of the creative power of the Lord.
The intensification of comparisons drawn from the arsenal of earthly wealth and luxury is characteristic of the poetry of the East where it strives to embody the ideal of female beauty. And beauty is perceived not only in ideally bodily, but also in excessive manifestations. Hegel connected this tendency of Eastern poetry toward “an abundance of luxurious images,” woven into endless chains of comparisons, with the psychology of the Eastern worldview.
A comparison in which both links of the image (the one being compared and what it is being compared with) are branched is called expanded. Objects and phenomena of mental life here are often compared not by one, but by several criteria. But since in a detailed comparison both links are detailed and dissected and poetically specific, the second member of the comparison often acquires a touch of illustration. Moreover, it may not contain a comprehensive analogy.
Pushkin's "Autumn" contains an example of just such a structure. At first it may seem that the scope of the extended comparison here is limited only by the boundaries of the eleventh stanza. But that's not true. After all, the image of a ship preparing to sail (the second link of comparison) includes an analogy with the initial state of the soul, immersed in a poetic plan. And the line “So the motionless ship slumbers in the motionless moisture” lives in a roll call with the beginning of the X stanza.
And yet, one cannot help but notice that the image of the sea “hulk” associatively echoes only the extreme and polar phases of the creative process (calm, contemplative slumber and rapid movement of thought). Between them in the second link of comparison (the image of a ship) no intermediate “joints” are visible. But it is precisely thanks to them that the image of the creative state of the soul in Pushkin acquires complexity and richness of facets, the dynamics of self-disclosure. Indeed, for Pushkin, the mystery of inspiration is reflected not simply in the replacement of peace of mind with the confusion of creative “fever”. The poetic contrast of calm and impulse permeates all the stages that the artist’s creative will goes through on the way from a vague idea to its embodiment. At first there is only a sweet sleep of thought and a feast of imagination (“I am sweetly lulled to sleep by my imagination”). Poetry begins when the first impulse is born, the desire to pour the unsteady sleep of the soul into living, contemplated forms. This stage is marked by special tension and tediousness of search.
But then the impetuous intonation of the verse suddenly levels out, acquiring a smooth and slow pace. There is a decline in the movement of the verse. It accompanies a new phase in the development of thought, a moment of enlightenment of the creative spirit, uninhibited imagination, when the poet becomes the free ruler of his artistic world. But this time the calm is instantaneous, it is replaced by a new impulse, even more unbridled and passionate, the desire to embody the found forms of life. The eleventh stanza begins with an unexpected “take-off” of thought, with a statement (“And the thoughts in the head are agitated in courage”), pulling behind it a whole chain of additions, fastened by anaphoric repetition and parallelisms at the beginning of the lines (“And thoughts... And rhymes...” . And fingers..."). The dynamics and expression of these poems are so great that even the word “minute,” interrupting the chain of additions, seems to be “captured” by this movement, acquiring the effect of extension, the impression of a passing moment. In the image of the ship, all these shades, transitions, stages are removed and only a generalized analogue of the contrast is presented, which in the picture of the creative process arises again and again, each time enriching its meaning.
So, the absence of an exhaustive analogy in Pushkin’s extended comparison is obvious. This is explained by the fact that the rich and multidimensional content of Pushkin’s thought is already expressed in the first link of comparison and is expressed, of course, in the language of image. All that remains is to apply a rounding stroke, to immerse the thought in the element of absolute plasticity (the image of a ship), thereby giving it a special shine and creating, as if by the way, a “springboard” for further run-up of associations (a metaphorical rethinking of the verb “sails” - “Sails. Where can we go?” swim?").
A comparison is a trope in which the text contains a basis for comparison and an image of comparison; sometimes a sign can be indicated. Thus, in the example “God’s name is like a big bird” (O.E. Mandelstam), God’s name (the basis of the comparison) is compared with a bird (the image of the comparison). The characteristic by which the comparison is made is wingedness.
Literary scholars distinguish several varieties.
Types of comparisons
1. Comparison expressed using comparative conjunctions as, as if, as if, exactly, like and others.
For example B.L. Pasternak uses the following comparison: “The kiss was like summer.”
2. Comparison expressed using adjectives in the comparative degree. You can add words to such phrases seems, seems, looks like and others.
For example: “Girls’ faces are brighter than roses” (A.S. Pushkin).
3. Comparison for which it is used. For example: “A wounded beast suffers from the frost” (N.N. Aseev).
4. Comparison expressed by the accusative without. For example: “The living room was decorated with expensive red gold wallpaper.”
5. Comparison expressed in a descriptive non-union phrase. For example: “The nightmares of the night are so far away that a dusty predator in the sun is a naughty man and nothing more” (I.F. Annensky).
6. There are also negative comparisons. For example: “The sun is not red in the sky, the blue clouds do not admire it: then the formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich sits at a meal in a golden crown” (M.Yu. Lermontov).
The figurative system of language is based on comparison. But this does not mean that comparison is an outdated trope. On the contrary, it continues to be actively used, largely due to its versatility. With the help of comparison you can describe anything. Even the lack of comparison (“this cannot be compared with anything”, “I have never seen anything like this”, “the human mind is not able to understand this, much less describe it reliably”) can be quite eloquent.
Comparison, as the Literary Encyclopedia says - stylistic device; likening one phenomenon to another, emphasizing their common feature.
In the “Literary Encyclopedia” by V.M. Fritzsche highlights only two types of comparison:
1) direct– i.e. expressed using conjunctions like, as if or as if (they are also called comparative phrases): “Lazily and thoughtlessly, as if walking without a goal, the oak trees stand under the clouds, and the dazzling blows of the sun’s rays light up whole picturesque masses of leaves, casting a shadow as dark as night over others...”(N.V. Gogol, “Sorochinskaya Fair”);
2) and indirect– expressed by a noun in the instrumental case (used without a preposition): “Onegin lived as an anchorite...”(A.S. Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”).
Actually, these are the two most common types of comparison. You can find quite a lot of comparisons with a comparative turn; it’s worth opening any well-written fiction book. Indirect comparisons are used less often, but they can be used effectively. Some indirect comparisons even turned into phraseological units: "He walks like a ferret", i.e. placing your hands at your sides is important. We could say: "Walks like a freak", but the word “fert” in modern Russian is not used in this meaning, so it will be incomprehensible.
The main thing to remember is that almost any direct comparison can be converted into an indirect one, and vice versa: “Icarus fell like a star” - “Icarus fell like a star.”
However, other types of comparisons can be distinguished, for example M. Petrovsky adds some more types of comparison:
3) Bessoyuznoe, when the comparative phrase is expressed in the form of a sentence with a compound nominal predicate. It sounds complicated, but it's actually simple. Examples: My home is my fortress, my teacher is a snake, in the village there is paradise.
4) Negative when the comparison is based on the separateness of similar objects: “Not two clouds converged in the sky, two daring knights converged”. This type of comparison is often used in stylizations of folklore or children's works: « Not in a passenger car, / Not in a shaking cart - / My brother is riding along the pavement / In his own stroller.”(A. Barto). However, there are a number of serious works where negative comparison underlies the entire figurative system. An example from Shakespeare:
Her eyes are not like stars
You can't call your mouth coral,
The open skin of the shoulders is not snow-white,
And a strand curls like black wire.
With damask rose, scarlet or white,
You can't compare the shade of these cheeks.
And the body smells like the body smells,
Not like a violet's delicate petal.
You won't find perfect lines in it,
Special light on the forehead.
I don't know how the goddesses walk,
But the darling steps on the ground.
And yet she will hardly yield to those
Who was slandered in comparisons of magnificent people.
5) So-called "Homeric comparison"- an expanded and detailed comparison, when “The poet deploys them (comparisons), as if forgetting and not caring about the objects that they should depict. Tertium comparationis provides only a pretext, an impetus for distraction away from the main flow of the story.” This distinguishes the style of Gogol and many postmodernists. Russian sentimentalists were guilty of making unreasonable extended comparisons, and this more than once became the subject of ridicule of their contemporaries. But the power of the “Homeric comparison” is actually quite great, the main thing is to be able to use it, not to overdo it and not to “underdo it.” In other words, either make the “Homeric comparison” the basis of the style, or avoid it.
comparison of objects in order to identify similarities or differences between them (or both). It is an important prerequisite for generalization. Plays a big role in reasoning by analogy. Judgments expressing the result of comparison serve the purpose of revealing the content of concepts about the objects being compared; in this regard, S. is used as a technique that complements and sometimes replaces the definition.
Excellent definition
Incomplete definition ↓
COMPARISON
cognitive operation (logical reflection - I. Kant), through a cut based on a certain fixed. characteristic - the basis of S. (see Relation) - the sameness (equality) or difference of objects (things, states, properties, etc.) is established by comparing them in pairs. Operation S. makes sense only for those objects, “...between which there is at least some similarity” (D. Hume, Soch., vol. 1, M., 1965, p. 103), i.e. is determined in the totality of homogeneous ones in a class. in the sense of objects - those that form a set. The signs (predicates) defined on this set serve as “natural” foundations of S. As a cognitive act, S. should be distinguished from its logical. form, which is common for both elementary (single-act) and complex (multi-act) procedures: in any case, there are only two possibilities - the compared objects a and b are identical (on this basis) or they are different ( for the same reason). If the bases of the difference are such that the difference relation can be considered as ordinal, then the operation of C. is reduced to considering the relations a = b, ab, which are the initial (basic) relations of C. The implicit definition of these relations is given by the axioms of equality (see Equalities in logic and mathematics) and order, and their mutual connection is expressed by the so-called. axiom of trichotomy: a=b or ab. All together they give a system of postulates of S., while the properties of the concepts “=", “” included in these postulates do not depend, of course, on the “quantitative” meaning that is usually attributed to these concepts; We are talking about the ordinal properties of a certain general class of relations (the order of relations in the broad sense; these are not only quantitative, but also qualitative relations of order, for example, on the basis of beauty, dexterity, intelligence, etc.), of which the subject of mathematics. only those for whom it is possible to establish more or less rigorous methods of analysis become analyzed. In any mathematics. theory is an indispensable condition for considering mathematics. objects is the assumption of their comparability. This leads to what is natural to call abstract comparability. On this abstraction is based, for example, the statement, which is fundamental in Cantor’s concept of set, that any two elements of an arbitrary set are distinguishable from each other. The concept of the sets themselves is based on this same abstraction. We say “abstraction of comparability” because the problem of S. in the general case is by no means trivial, sometimes even simply unsolvable: “Let A be the set of all even numbers greater than 4, and Let B be the set of all numbers that are the sums of two simple odd numbers . We still don’t know which relationship is true: A = B or A? B, and we don’t even know how to approach the solution of this question" (Sierpinsky V., On the theory of sets, translated from Polish, M., 1966, p. 6; about fundamentally unsolvable problems of S. see, for example, in Art. Identities of the problem). According to Hume, “we can make ... a comparison either when both objects are perceived by the senses, or when neither of them is perceived, or when only one of them is present” (Works, vol. 1, M ., 1965, p. 169). In the first case, the act of differentiation has an independent meaning and is considered as an independent operation (the idea of mathematics without negation is, in fact, based on it - see Positive Logic). Obviously, S. at the level of sensory perception does not require any abstractions. Visualization gives the concept S . "physical" meaning", but the condition of clarity of S. is constraining for theory. It is in theory, especially in mathematics, that cases are typical (as in the above example with sets A and B) when a visual comparison of objects is impossible (this depends, generally speaking, on the conditions of the task objects) and, therefore, we have to resort to reasoning and, accordingly, to certain abstractions on which we base our reasoning. For example, reasoning about the comparability of the set A1 of all odd numbers greater than 7, and the set B1 of all numbers, being the sums of three odd prime numbers, we base it on the abstraction of potential feasibility, since “... we know a method that makes it possible, by performing certain calculations specified by this method, to decide which of the relations?1? ?1 or?1 = ?1 is true...", although the number of these calculations "... is so great that not a single existing electronic computer would be able to perform them" (Sierpinski V., On Set Theory, p. 7).Based on the principle of excluded middle, we can consider sets A and B from the first example to be comparable, but in this case the abstraction of comparability will depend on the abstraction of actual infinity. In other words, the abstraction of comparability is a non-trivial assumption within the framework of other mathematics . abstractions. A “practically feasible" operation of S. should not depend on the certain abstractions of infinity and feasibility. Thus, accepting within the framework of the abstraction of actual infinity that two positive irrational numbers are equal if all the corresponding decimal places of their decimal approximations are the same, We are fully aware that in practice it is never possible to solve the problem of equality of numbers in the indicated sense due to the fundamental impossibility of completing the infinite process C. to end. The basis of S. with such a “Platonist” definition of equality is “involved” in an endless process. In practice, limiting ourselves to approximate calculations, it is necessary to exclude such “infinite bases” of S. by moving to equality in a certain interval of abstraction - pragmatic (or conditional) equality (for the concept of “interval of abstraction” and the related concept of conditional equality, see Art. Principle of abstraction, Identity). It is necessary, for example, to identify an irrational number with its decimal approximation, assuming in the general case the dependence of the equality of substances. numbers from the conditions of interchangeability of their decimal approximations, when the use (substitution) of one of them instead of the other does not violate the given abstraction interval (for example, it provides the degree of accuracy required by a practical task). The endless process of S. is replaced here by the finite method of substitution and experimental verification of its results. Lit.: Shatunovsky S.O., Introduction to analysis, Odessa, 1923, § 6 and 7; Arnold I.V., Theoretical arithmetic, M., 1938, ch. 3. M. Novoselov. Moscow. F. Lazarev. Kaluga.
In life we constantly resort to comparisons. This is what we do in a store, comparing products before making a choice. We compare the actions of people, their qualities, films, music, etc. And this is correct, because everything is learned by comparison. But what is comparison?
Meanings of the term
The term comparison is used in a variety of fields. In everyday life, comparison is the identification of qualities based on the principle of similarity, finding out whether objects are equal to each other, which one is better. Often “comparison” is defined as a way of identifying the unity and diversity of things. In mathematics, this is a comparison of numbers for equality and inequality (more or less). Thus, the main meaning of the word “comparison” is the process of comparing the various properties of two objects, both qualitative and quantitative.
The term “comparison” is used in psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In psychology, there are special comparison tests to identify the degree of development of mental abilities. “Comparison” in philosophy is a cognitive operation with the help of which the characteristics of processes and phenomena are revealed.
Comparison in the literature
But we perceive literary comparisons most emotionally. What is comparison in literature? This is an artistic technique (or trope) based on the comparison of the qualities of phenomena, objects or people, as well as the likening of one object (phenomenon) to another. The purpose of literary comparison is to more fully reveal the image through common features. In a comparison, both objects being compared are always mentioned, although the common feature itself may be omitted.
Types of literary comparisons
- Simple comparisons are phrases expressed using conjunctions: as if, exactly, as if, as if, directly, etc. (“Fast as a deer”).
Like a tiger, life tears the body with its claws,
And the firmament took the mind and heart in chains...
(Baba Tahir).
- Non-union - through a compound nominal predicate.
My summer robe is so thin -
Cicada wings!
- Negative - one object is opposed to another. Often used in popular expressions (“It’s not the wind that bends the branch, It’s not the oak tree that makes noise”).
- “Creative” comparisons – using a noun in the instrumental case.
Joy crawls like a snail,
Grief has a mad run...
(V. Mayakovsky).
- Comparison using an adverb of manner of action (“He screamed like an animal”).
- Genitives - using a noun in the genitive case (“Running like the wind,” as opposed to “Running like the wind”).
So, you have learned what a comparison is, examples of literary comparisons. But comparative phrases are widely used not only in literature, but also in scientific and colloquial speech. Without comparisons, our speech would be less figurative and vivid.