To reveal the topic, students are encouraged to use various techniques. The epigraph to the essay, written competently and thoroughly, indicates a deep understanding of the topic by the author. It is important to be able to correctly format and select words that suit the story. Scientific and journalistic works often begin with an epigraph, so every student needs to master this skill.
Epigraph to an essay - what is it?
Terminology defines an epigraph to an essay as an original statement borrowed from a famous person or a short excerpt from a literary work. A small but succinct text has deep meaning and from the first lines gives the reader an understanding of the holistic content of the further narrative. A well-chosen epigraph for an essay gives it style and originality.
Where can I get a good epigraph?
For school assignment You can safely use lines from the work on which the work is proposed to be written. This can be a single phrase or a whole small paragraph. If we look at the problem more broadly, then the statements of critics can also be used. Any borrowed phrases that reflect the essence of the problem and most fully convey the idea to the reader must be in the text of the essay.
Very often you can see aphorisms as epigraphs, popular sayings, proverbs and catch phrases. Poetic excerpts also often decorate literary works.
Where to start
Before you begin the process of finding a suitable epigraph, you need to carefully consider what message you want the reader to receive. The first line sets the general mood. It can be dark, cheerful or frivolous. The colossal relationship between the beginning and the main part obliges the author to approach the issue with full responsibility.
How to write an epigraph for an essay
So, when the right words are selected, you should think about the proper design of the epigraph. There are serious requirements for its location on the page; they are the same for all works. The correct placement of text on the page is as follows: the epigraph is written on the next line after the title, before the main part of the text. Special condition: right alignment. To write an epigraph in computer editors, it is convenient to use the automatic placement function on the right.
Having figured out how to write an epigraph to an essay, it is important to pay attention to some nuances. The text is written without using quotation marks; the name of the author of the quotation is indicated below it. It is possible to indicate the title of a work if the words are taken from literary source. In this case, the name is written separated by a comma after the author's data.
Epigraph picture
Very often, bloggers and website owners use recognizable pictures that define their profile as special and individual. This form of text design is perfect for keeping diaries and forums. To create an epigraph picture, you do not need to have any special knowledge of computer technology. It is enough to own a simple photo editor. The text on the image is chosen by the author and can have any message. The author's nickname must be indicated, by which other visitors to the Internet can easily recognize the author.
Why do you need an epigraph?
Any literary creation is always subject to criticism from the author himself. There is always a desire to see the created text expressive, succinct, interesting and useful for the reader. The epigraph allows you to add zest and style to the text, helping to endow the story with deep meaning.
Epigraph
Epigraph
(Greek epigraph? - inscription), 1) in ancient Greece inscription on the monument.
2) B European literature placed after the title of the work and preceded by the text or its structurally allocated part (chapter, volume) short statement, the meaning of which reveals to readers the content of the narrative that follows it. The epigraph indicates the theme of the work (A.A. Block, “Solveig”: “Solveig comes running on skis”), emphasizes his main idea (A.S. Pushkin, “The Captain’s Daughter”: “Take care of your honor from a young age”), highlights the important circumstances of the plot action (M. Yu. Lermontov, “Mtsyri”: “Tasting, I tasted little honey, and now I’m dying”). Most often, the epigraph turns out to be an accurately or inaccurately quoted saying of someone else (a fragment of the work of a predecessor author, catchphrase), however, they can also serve as the author’s own statement (such is the poetic miniature prefaced by A. S. Pushkin to the text “ Queen of Spades"). The epigraphs are aphoristic, laconicism.
Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .
Epigraph
EPIGRAPH- a phrase in the title of a literary work or before its individual sections. Proverbs, sayings, words from well-known literary works, from Holy Scripture, etc. So, for example, Gogol took the proverb as the epigraph to “The Inspector General”: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if you have a crooked face,” the epigraph to “Anna Karenina” is: “Vengeance is mine and I will repay it,” etc. . p. The epigraph represents, as it were, a mask behind which the author hides when, not wanting to speak directly, he indirectly determines his attitude towards the events depicted in the work. The epigraph can be lyrical, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on whether the author expressed his attitude simply in a condensed formula of the main events of this work as a whole, a separate chapter, etc. (in these cases, the very nature of the condensation of events reveals the attitude of the author), - or this attitude is expressed by him in an exclamation, a direct assessment of the event, etc., as in the examples given. In this latter case, the epigraph has the character of a disguised lyrical digression. Such “evaluative” epigraphs can sometimes have a comedic character - this happens when the author’s “assessment” of a well-known phenomenon does not correspond to the meaning that this phenomenon has for the characters themselves in the work. So, for example, the epigraph from the Little Russian comedy: “Tsur tobi, pek tobi, satanic infatuation,” taken by Gogol for the tenth chapter of “Sorochinskaya Fair,” is undoubtedly humorous in nature: it betrays the author’s clearly mocking attitude towards what is described in this chapter, between by the way the “Scary Devil's Scroll”, which it talks about, truly frightened the hero of the chapter - Cherevik.
Ya. Zundelovich. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925
Synonyms:
See what an “epigraph” is in other dictionaries:
- (Greek; this, see previous word). 1) a text by some writer, displayed at the beginning of a book, department, chapter. 2) an inscription on a book, monument, building, etc. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. EPIGRAPH... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Epigraph- EPIGRAPH is a phrase in the title of a literary work or before its individual sections. Proverbs, sayings, words from well-known literary works, from Holy Scripture, etc. are often taken as epigraphs. For example, ... ... Dictionary of literary terms
epigraph- a, m. épigraphe f. German Epigraph gr. epigraphe inscription. 1. The ancient Greeks had an inscription on the monument. BAS 1. We recently began to persecute his Alexandrian verse... It is suitable, they say, for an epigraph. Yes, you can sometimes decorate Tombs with it or... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
- (epigraph obsolete), epigraph, husband. (Greek epigraphe inscription). 1. The ancient Greeks had an inscription on tombstone. 2. A short text (usually a quotation from somewhere, a proverb, a saying, etc.), placed by the author in front of his work or his... ... Dictionary Ushakova
epigraph- and an outdated epigraph. IN literary language XVIII beginning In the 19th century, the epigraph variant was common. For example, from A. Pushkin: “He knew enough Latin to understand the epigraphs” (Eugene Onegin) ... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language
Modern encyclopedia
- (from the Greek epigraphe inscription) ..1) in antiquity, an inscription on a monument, building2)] Quote, saying, proverb placed by the author before the text of the entire artistic (journalistic, scientific) work or part of it. The epigraph explains... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Saying, quote, inscription, motto Dictionary of Russian synonyms. epigraph noun, number of synonyms: 4 saying (26) ... Dictionary of synonyms
- (Greek epigraphe - inscription) 1) in antiquity, an inscription on a monument, building; 2) a quotation, saying, proverb placed by the author before the text of the entire artistic (journalistic) work or part of it. The epigraph explains the main idea... ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies
Epigraph- (from the Greek epigraphe inscription), 1) in antiquity, an inscription on a monument, building. 2) A quotation, saying, proverb placed by the author before the text of the entire artistic (journalistic, scientific) work or its parts. The epigraph explains... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
EPIGRAPH, a, m. A saying (or quotation) preceding a work (or its part, chapter) and focusing thought on its idea. E. to the novel. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
Books
- Astrological lots or Arabic parts and points, parses, lots, V.V.G.. Lots, parses, Arabic points or Arabic parts, lots are different names of special points (degrees, parts, areas) of the horoscope in which it is concentrated...
Jan Amos Comenius
Epigraphs, most often small and short, take on a huge burden. Directly or allegorically, evoking analogies or some other associations, they tell us the main idea of the work.
Thus, the already mentioned novel by V. Astafiev “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” has an epigraph - lines from a French poem poet XIX century T. Gautier:
My love, in that world of old,
Where are the abysses, tabernacles, domes,
I was a bird, a flower, and a stone, -
And a pearl - everything you were.
It would seem a strange epigraph to a work about war. But in this novel, in addition to descriptions of terrible military battles, there are amazing lyrical lines about love, which “moves the suns and luminaries,” as Dante said at the beginning of the 14th century. And the love of the main ones characters, and the love of the collective farm shepherd and his wife (residents of the village where the main events of the novel take place) turns out to be the main thing that keeps people on Earth. Read this novel, piercing in its intensity of feelings, and you will understand what it is like. enormous strength- Love!
Advanced questions
1. By the way, did you notice that in this short epigraph – T. Gautier’s poem – there are at least 4 “wells”? Find them.
(The answer is at the end of the book)
Along with the title, the correct reading of the epigraph is a “trigger” moment on the way to main idea. Sometimes in a work with a complex structure there are epigraphs not only after the title of the entire book, but also before each chapter, for example, in “The Captain's Daughter” by A.S. Pushkin. This helps the thinking reader build a hierarchy of main ideas and main events.
The epigraph is considered as important for the text as it is necessary musical key(violin or bass) in which the piece of music will sound.
Indeed, epigraphs can suggest not only the main idea of a work, but also its “tonality,” that is, the emotional coloring of the text. So, the fourth chapter " The captain's daughter Pushkin, entitled “The Duel,” is preceded by an epigraph:
- If you please, get into position.
Look, I'll pierce your figure.
Knyazhnin
This humorous epigraph softens the anxious anticipation inspired by the title and raises the assumption that the upcoming duel will not end in a tragic ending.
Training
Working with epigraphs is a “powerful” means for understanding the main thought (idea) of a work. But there is a way to take the student beyond the text being studied and expand the scope of his thoughts. This is a selection of epigraphs. In this case, the search for a solution occurs not in the text alone, but in the extensive intellectual baggage of the reader; “thinking memory” is mobilized, connections are established between different areas literary knowledge. Sources for searching for epigraphs can be works of art, collections of proverbs and various kinds of aphorisms, sayings outstanding people etc.
What texts can epigraphs be selected for? First of all, to texts whose authors are the students themselves: reports, abstracts. Next - to the sections of the textbook; to the topics being studied, not only in literature, but also in other subjects.
K. Levitin’s popular science book “The Burning Lamp” (pay attention to the title!), dedicated to the problems of brain function, opens with an epigraph taken from the book of the 16th century French humanist philosopher Michel Montaigne: “A well-built brain is worth more than the brain.” , well filled." We hope you remember these words. In what part of the manual did we use them?
Not only authors of popular science books, but also creators of fundamental scientific works use both as an epigraph and directly in the text excerpts from works of art. Thus, one major monograph provides an excerpt from Aeschylus’ tragedy “Prometheus Bound”:
Listen to what I did to mortals:
The number was invented by them
And he taught me how to connect letters, -
He gave them memory, the mother of muses, the reason for everything.
Advanced questions
2. What area of knowledge do you think this monograph is devoted to, which is preceded by an epigraph from Aeschylus? Stories? Literary studies?
3. How many “wells” are there here?
(Answers at the end teaching aid)
And from the point of view of semiotics, the epigraph - this is part of the sign system , which tells us certain cultural and temporal associations and their connection with the idea of the text.
Instructions
At its core, an epigraph is a bright, original statement borrowed from a famous person or from a literary work. The main task of epigraphs is to concisely express the essence of the work and highlight it. A well-chosen epigraph allows you to understand, even before reading the entire content, what will be discussed and what conclusions will be drawn. In addition, a successful epigraph is very textual, giving it style.
Most main question, which arises when you need to choose an epigraph - where to find it. For school, you can use any or a paragraph from the literary work on which you are writing. You can also use the statement of one of the critics who analyzed this work, if his thought seems complete to you and expresses your intention.
Also, catchphrases, aphorisms, and vivid quotes from famous historical figures are often used as epigraphs. Often fragments may be taken. Before looking for a text suitable as an epigraph, think about what main idea you want to express with your work. What tone should the epigraph set for the entire text: serious, gloomy, frivolous, cheerful. The choice of the appropriate one depends on this.
Having understood exactly how you want your epigraph to look, think about whether you remember some statement or quote that is in tune with your thoughts. If something like this comes to mind, find this text and re-read the original. It will become clear to you whether he is suitable for your job. If not, keep looking. You can use online resources to find the right quote or aphorism. Various collections may also be useful catchphrases.
Once the text suitable for the epigraph has been selected, it must be formatted correctly. Epigraphs are always located immediately after the title and before the main text of the work on the right side of the page. If you are typing your work on a computer, select the “Right Align” option for writing the epigraph. The text of the epigraph is without quotation marks, below it is the author’s first and last name. If you want to indicate, in addition to the author’s name, the title of the work from which the quotation was taken, write it separated by a comma after the author’s last name.
Sources:
- How to make a regular epigraph
In online diaries, blogs, forum posts and social networks today you can often find small beautiful pictures, on which the owner’s nickname or some kind of quote is inserted. Such pictures serve as a kind of epigraph for a blog, diary or website, and they can also be posted on your own profiles on various social services. You can create an epigraph picture in a matter of minutes.
Instructions
Open the image and texture in one common document Adobe Photoshop and place the image layer above the texture layer. Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to resize the images to match each other, and then change the Blend Mode to Lighten.
Select the Eraser Tool from the toolbar and adjust the eraser so that it has a blurred soft edge. Use an eraser to work on one edge of the photo, trying to make the texture smooth and invisible. If necessary, move the image slightly to open most of textures.
Decorate the future epigraph with additional visual effects - desaturate your image by pressing the key combination Ctrl+Shift+U, and then select a new layer blending mode, for example, Soft Light.
The epigraph is usually drawn up entirely on the right side of the sheet or with a significant indentation on the left side, without using quotation marks. It is believed that this part of the text should not occupy more than half the width of the page. If an epigraph in the form of a quotation contains the author’s surname and initials, a period is usually not placed after them. The font size used to type the epigraph should correspond to the main text of the work or be slightly smaller in size.
How to choose the right epigraph
Quotes from the works of other authors are most widely used as epigraphs for works. When choosing such a passage, you should strive to ensure that it is extremely short and concise, but at the same time accurately reflecting the author’s thoughts. It hardly makes sense to give extensive and lengthy quotes. The advantage of an epigraph is its brevity and accuracy of expression.
Very wide opportunities are provided by the use of aphorisms, which are most often understood as figurative sayings. In the aphorism of a scientist, eminent writer or public figure expressiveness and completeness of thought are combined. However, no one forbids the author to come up with an aphorism on his own. If the saying turns out to be successful, the reader will not demand from the author a certificate certifying that he is world famous, famous and revered in society.
Think about the topic of your essay. Think:
What problem do you want to address;
- how to formulate controversial questions and how to answer them;
- how you justify and argue your statements.
Make an outline of your essay in a draft, write down your main ideas and thoughts there. Consider how you can justify your claims:
Quotes from the work (no more than two or three sentences) that will confirm, rather than repeat, your thoughts;
- links to relevant episodes;
- analysis of the work (decide which key points of the text support your position).
Think about what style you will write in (your individual style as the author of the essay is important). Decide in advance what the introduction and conclusion will be. It is best if the beginning and end of your work are, as it were, closed in a ring: ideologically (the same thought is affirmed and confirmed) or formally (repetition of words). This is not difficult if you carefully think through your statement at the very beginning, especially its initial and final parts. Check yourself to see if you have gone off topic: read the topic of your work and compare it with what you want to write.
Write an introduction. It may contain:
Invitation to conversation;
- presentation of the author;
- identification of the problem (it must be clearly formulated);
- transition to the main part.
In the introduction you should not retell the content of the text. The volume of the introductory part should be small - only 3-4 sentences. If necessary, cross out unnecessary phrases. If you can’t start with the introduction, you can start with the main part of the text, leaving room for the introduction. Better yet, think: what is stopping you from approaching the topic? Perhaps you have not yet clearly formulated for yourself the main problem or other provisions of the text.
The beginning of the essay should smoothly transition into the main part. After writing the main part, using the outline, read it. Make sure that the main part is relevant to the topic and does not contain unnecessary statements and thoughts. Do your statements disagree with the author’s intention and the content of the text? Mark your main ideas in the margins with a pencil. Finally, you can repeat them in other words. Please note that it does not have to be large. Introduction and conclusion should be no more than 25% of the entire text.
Read the entire work carefully. Correct mistakes, eliminate inaccuracies in words. If possible, check in the dictionary if you are not sure of the correct spelling. Be careful about punctuation marks. Mentally explain the signs that you doubt.
Please note that the epigraph is written without quotation marks, and the author's surname in it is written without parentheses. There is no period after the author of the epigraph is indicated. Poems are quoted in a column (without quotes, in the middle of the page) or in a line (in quotes, with a separating character “/” between the lines).
Sources:
- How to write an essay on literature
- how to write an essay on literature correctly
Many schoolchildren and applicants are faced with the problem of writing an essay. Knowing the content of the text will not help much here. The author of the essay must have the ability to analyze ideological content And artistic originality works. Write composition- this is the ability to coherently formulate thoughts and facts presented from the point of view of the author and proven by him. Working on composition m can be carried out in the following stages.
Instructions
Think about and understand the topic of the essay, identify its content. Determine the range of problems contained in it. It is important to understand what meaning and semantic load each word carries in the formulation of the topic. For example, the nature of work on the characters of literary works depends on the classification:
- characterization of the character (“Tatyana Larina is the ideal of the author”, “Tatyana Larina as a type of Russian woman”, “Bazarov through the eyes of the author”, “Tatyana Larina in the assessment of V.G. Belinsky”);
- comparison of characters (“Onegin and Lensky”, “Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov”);
- character system (“ Women's images in the novel by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”);
- character (“Famusovskoe in A.S. Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”);
- hero and environment (“Chatsky and Famusov’s society”);
- character image (“Image of Pechorin”);
- the image of the author (“The image of the author in the novel “Eugene Onegin”).
Formulate the main idea (idea of the essay). To do this, ask yourself the question: “What conclusion should I come to when revealing the topic?”
Choose the form of evidence for your main idea. In the deductive form, you first express a general idea, and then
Thinking about the title
When picking up any text, the reader should set himself the task of highlighting the main thing, that is, understanding why this text was written.
The title is the “front door” of the text. Mental processing of the title is the first step to understanding the author's idea. The title sets up a subsequent dialogue with the text, during which the content and its main idea are comprehended.
If the headline does not linger in memory, then the conversation with the text does not go well, and self-control and generalization of the information received becomes difficult. The better the title is processed, the more complete the further reading will be.
Predicting content from the title has varying degrees of difficulty, depending on what the child is reading. If he reads fiction, then the title can suggest exactly what the story will be about, and lead to assumptions that are completely different from what the work will actually talk about.
Working with headings can be carried out at different stages: both before and after reading the text.
Why do you need an epigraph?
Epigraphs, most often small and short, take on a huge burden. Directly or allegorically, evoking any associations, they are representatives of the main idea.
Along with the title, the correct reading of the epigraph is a “trigger” moment on the way to the main idea. Sometimes in a work with a complex structure there are epigraphs not only after the title of the entire book, but also before each chapter. This helps the reader build a hierarchy of main ideas and main events.
Working with epigraphs, as well as working with headings, can be carried out in two stages. The first is an attempt, before reading the text, to explain the meaning of the epigraph and, on this basis, to make some assumption about the content of what is to be read. The second is returning to the epigraph after reading and understanding the relationship between the text and the epigraph.
Highlighting the main idea
The ability to conduct a dialogue with a text does not always lead to the main result of understanding - highlighting the main idea. This needs to be taught purposefully.
Many schoolchildren, even after a detailed conversation with the text, give up when they are asked to highlight the main idea. This indicates a misunderstanding of the text: after all, correctly highlighting the main idea is one of the most important indicators of understanding. Expressing a thought in words is an independent and very difficult task. The expression of a thought in words does not always correspond to the thought itself: it can be incomplete, inaccurate, and distorted. Hence Tyutchev’s famous: “A thought expressed is a lie.”
To highlight the main idea means to realize it in the general flow of the text, to abstract from the specific embodiment, which is the form of its existence, and to evaluate the degree of its significance.
In order to learn and become accustomed to highlighting the main idea, the following conditions must be observed.
The first is for students to know that this goal is always in front of them, with every interaction with the text.
IN ideal the desire to find out: “What is the main thing here?” or “What is most important here?” - becomes a habit, and the student simply does not know any other reading
The second is the extraction of all meanings from each word, phrase, sentence and larger semantic units, as well as from their assembly.
The third is constant work on predicting text at all levels - from a word or phrase to the whole text.
This work will not give a big boost to schoolchildren’s ability to learn if it is episodic in nature.
