The meaning of the word HYPERBOLE in the Literary Encyclopedia

HYPERBOLA

[Greek - ??????????] - a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration, aimed at enhancing expressiveness, for example. "I've said this a thousand times." Hyperbole is often combined with other stylistic devices, giving them an appropriate coloring: hyperbolic comparisons, metaphors, etc. (“the waves rose like mountains”). The character or situation portrayed may also be hyperbolic. G. is also characteristic of the rhetorical, oratorical style, as a means of pathetic elation, as well as

538 romantic style, where pathos meets irony. Of the Russian authors, Gogol is especially inclined to G., of the newest poets - Mayakovsky (see “Stylists”).

Literary encyclopedia. 2012

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what HYPERBOLE is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

HYPERBOLA in the Dictionary of Fine Arts Terms:
- (from the Greek hyperbole - excess, exaggeration) a stylistic, artistic device based on the exaggeration of a real feature, to which things that are impossible in reality are attributed...
HYPERBOLA in the Dictionary of Literary Terms:
- (from the Greek hyperbole - exaggeration, excess) - type of trope: excessive exaggeration of the feelings, meaning, size, beauty, etc. of the described ...
HYPERBOLA in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(from Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) a type of trope based on exaggeration (“rivers of blood”). Wed. ...
HYPERBOLA V Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Euphron:
- a rhetorical figure of exaggeration (or, on the contrary, humiliation) of truth, as, for example, in the expressions “blood flowed in streams”, “sweat rolled in hail.” Deliberate humiliation...
HYPERBOLA in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
HYPERBOLA
(from the Greek hyperbole - exaggeration), poetic device: a type of trope based on exaggeration (“rivers of blood”). Compare...
HYPERBOLA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
I s, f. Stylistic figure consisting of figurative exaggeration. Hyperbolic - characterized by hyperbole, characteristic of hyperbole. To hyperbolize - to exaggerate. | Examples...
HYPERBOLA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, -y, w. In poetics: a word or expression containing exaggeration to create artistic image; Generally an exaggeration. II...
HYPERBOLA
HYPERBOLE (from the Greek hyperbol; - exaggeration), a type of trope, main. on exaggeration (“rivers of blood”). Wed. Litota...
HYPERBOLA in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
HYPERBOLE (Greek hyperbol;), a flat curve (2nd order), consisting of two infinite branches. G. - set of points M, distance difference...
HYPERBOLA in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
? a rhetorical figure of exaggeration (or, on the contrary, humiliation) of truth, as, for example, in the expressions “blood flowed in streams”, “sweat rolled in hail.” Deliberate humiliation...
HYPERBOLA in the Complete Accented Paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbolam, hyper"rbolu, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbola, hyper"rbole, ...
HYPERBOLA in the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms:
A figurative expression containing an exorbitant exaggeration of the size, strength, meaning, etc. of any object or phenomenon. The sunset glowed with one hundred and forty suns...
HYPERBOLA in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
-y, w. , lit. Figurative expression, excessive exaggeration of certain properties of the depicted object or phenomenon. Examples of hyperbole: wine flowed...
HYPERBOLA in the Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary:
HYPERBOLA in the New Dictionary of Foreign Words:
1) (gr. hyperbole) a stylistic figure consisting of figurative exaggeration, for example. : they swept a stack above the clouds or the wine flowed like a river...
HYPERBOLA in the Russian Language Thesaurus:
‘literary device’ Syn: exaggeration, hyperbolization (book), exaggeration (book) Ant: understatement, ...
HYPERBOLA in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
cm. …
HYPERBOLA in the Russian Synonyms dictionary:
curve, exaggeration, technique, ...
HYPERBOLA in the New Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
1. g. 1) A stylistic device that involves excessive exaggeration of something. qualities or properties of the depicted object, phenomenon, etc. for the purpose...
HYPERBOLA in Lopatin’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
hyperbola, ...
HYPERBOLA in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
hyperbole...
HYPERBOLA in the Spelling Dictionary:
hyperbola, ...

Hyperbole (from the Greek hyperbole - exaggeration). “All great works. - wrote A. Gorky, “all those works that are examples of highly artistic literature rest precisely on exaggeration, on a broad typification of phenomena.” Gorky confidently and unmistakably puts exaggeration and typification side by side, based on his own writing and reading experience, meaning by this the artist’s ability and ability to see the most essential in the observed phenomena, extract the main meaning from them, condense it with the power of imagination into an artistic image.

Exaggeration is the “core” of typing.

One of the most spectacular and effective techniques of artistic exaggeration is hyperbole in literature. It allows you to “present unrepresentability”, “correlate the incomparable”, that is, to give this or that detail most acutely and sharply - in a portrait, in the internal appearance of a character, in a phenomenon of the objective world. Let us emphasize - objective. Because when talking about hyperbole, it should be borne in mind that no matter how incredible, no matter how fantastic it may be, it is always based on life material, life content.

The artistic persuasiveness and ambiguity of hyperbole are all the more significant the more clearly the reader imagines the specific essence of the image or situation. Thus, one of the main characters of Gogol’s “The Inspector General,” Khlestakov, says about himself that he has “extraordinary lightness in his thoughts.” In a society based on universal reverence for rank, on all-encompassing hypocrisy, Khlestakov’s lies, with all its hyperbolic absurdity (“as I pass through the department, it’s just an earthquake, everything trembles and shakes like a leaf,” etc.), is accepted by provincial officials as pure the truth.

Another example. In Márquez’s novel “The Autumn of the Patriarch,” the story about the “thousand-year-old” patriarch is told from “we,” and this technique of using a collective point of view, polyphony, makes it possible to feel and imagine the atmosphere of rumors and omissions about the hero. Nothing is known for sure about the dictator from the very beginning - and until the end of the book. Each new interpretation of his actions reveals only one of the aspects of his appearance, where exclusivity, dissimilarity with ordinary people. And this gives the whole narrative style a certain hyperbolic quality.

To create a hyperbolic artistic image, they are used various types tropes: comparisons, likenings, metaphors, epithets, etc. Their function is to exaggerate the subject, to clearly reveal the contradiction between its content and form, to make the image more impressive and catchy. By the way, the same goal can be pursued by understatement, litotes, which can be considered as a type of hyperbole, like hyperbole in literature “with a minus sign.” Depending on the socio-aesthetic orientation of the work, the same event can be perceived as “giant” or “small”. In D. Swift’s novel “The Travels of Lemuel Gulliver,” hyperbole and litotes coexist: in the first part of the book contemporary to the writer England is shown as if through a reducing glass, in the second - through a magnifying glass. In the land of Lilliputians, oxen and sheep are so tiny that the hero loads hundreds of them into his boat. Matching these dimensions are everything else that Gulliver encounters in this country, right down to the social structure and political events. With a satirical understatement, Swift makes the reader understand that the claims of island, “Lilliputian”, in essence, England for world domination (for the role of “mistress of the seas”, for vast colonial possessions, etc.), which seemed great and grandiose to many Englishmen, are, if you think about it, insignificant and even funny.

Another impressive hyperbolic image is from the very beginning of the novel: the hero comes to his senses after a shipwreck and cannot lift his head from the ground - each of his hair is twisted onto a “Lilliputian” peg driven into the ground. Here, hyperbole in literature takes on a symbolic meaning, suggesting an individual in captivity among many insignificant passions and circumstances...

It is in satirical work hyperbole is most often appropriate and artistically justified. V. Astafiev in “The Tsar Fish” uses this technique to reveal the inner squalor of one of the “nature lovers,” the poacher Rokhotalo: “The fisherman Rokhotalo lay like a motionless block behind a hot fire. shaking the shore with snoring, as if from womb to throat, the anchor chain of a ship rocked by the waves rolled from throat to womb.” Here the author's assessment of the character with his insatiably aggressive attitude towards nature, a character personifying soulless dullness, emerges. However, hyperbole in literature, even “mocking”, may not be clearly satirical. The range of use of this prima is quite wide, covering humor, irony, and comedy.

The history of hyperbole goes back to the distant past - to folklore, to folk tales, generous with satirical images and comic situations. However, at about the same time, a completely different type of hyperbole arose - very far from laughter. In epics, legends, and heroic tales we find one that can be called idealizing. Thus, the Russian epic captures the historical experience of the people, their heroic struggle against invaders and oppressors. In images epic heroes the people expressed their understanding of duty and honor, courage and patriotism, kindness and selflessness. The heroes of epics - heroes - are endowed with ideal human qualities, as a rule, exaggerated, hyperbolic. The depiction of the epic hero primarily emphasizes his supernatural physical strength: “If there were a ring in the earth, / And there was a ring in the sky, / He would grab these rings in one hand, / He would pull the sky to the earth,” the epic says about Ilya Muromtse. In a similar way, his weapons and his actions are exaggerated. On the battlefield, he wields an iron club-shalyga “weighing exactly one hundred bullets”, a bow and arrows “in a scythe of fathoms”, or even simply grabs the legs of an enemy who turns up and destroys the enemy’s “great strength” with it: swings to the right - appears in the enemy’s crowd “street”, to the left - “alley”. The horse of Ilya Muromets can cover many miles in one gallop, for it flies “above a standing forest, just below a walking cloud”...

The images of opponents are also hyperbolized - but in a satirical way. epic heroes. For example, if Ilya Muromets is outwardly no different from those around him, then his “adversary” Idolishche is “two fathoms” tall, and his shoulders are “oblique fathoms”, and he has eyes like “beer bowls”, and a nose like “elbow” “... Thanks to this contrasting external comparison, the hero’s victory looks especially impressive, deserving of popular glorification.

Romantic writers widely used idealizing metaphors in their work, contrasting their ideal, the aesthetic ideal of romanticism, with the spiritless, inhuman reality. We can easily find numerous examples of this kind in Gogol’s “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, in the books of Veltman and Odoevsky, Hugo, Hoffmann, Chamisso...

Hyperbole, examples and definition of which we have presented in this article, remains one of the most commonly used and effective literary devices. Such different writers as Ch. Aitmatov and V. Orlov, B. Okudzhava and A. Voznesensky, A. Kim and N. Dumbadze and many others willingly resorted to it. And we can confidently say that the one who lived in literature long life hyperbole remains a faithful ally of the artist both in the fight against the negative phenomena of life and in the creative affirmation of the moral ideal.

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Writing acquires a special power of influence on human minds thanks to certain linguistic means. The use of stylistic devices makes literary text especially expressive, emotional, leaves the reader with an indelible impression of reading literature.

What is hyperbole in Russian?

A stylistic device, the name of which is borrowed from the ancient Greek language and is translated as “exaggeration,” is present in classical and modern works along with metaphor, epithet, metonymy, synecdoche, etc. What is hyperbole in literature? This is a deliberate exaggeration of the properties of phenomena and objects. The language device is used in Russian colloquial speech for emotional enhancement, when there is more than just the transfer of dry information, a personal assessment of what is happening is emphasized.

The figure of speech was the favorite means of expression of the authors of folk tales and epics. The stylistic device was widely used by writers whose works became classics of literature. Visual enhancements contain humorous and satirical stories, poetic creativity. Exaggeration is used wherever it is necessary to highlight one or another fact of reality.

Why is exaggeration used in literature?

Hyperbole catches attention, has a stimulating effect on the imagination, makes you look at the facts of reality in a new way, feel their significance and special role. Exaggeration overcomes the limits set by verisimilitude, imbues a person, thing, or natural phenomenon supernatural characteristics. expressive means emphasizes the conventionality of the world created by the writer. What is hyperbole in literature? The technique indicates the author’s attitude towards the depicted - sublime, idealistic or, conversely, mocking.

How is artistic exaggeration realized?

To clearly understand what hyperboles are in literature, you need to know the methods of implementing amplification inherent in the text work of art. Expressiveness is achieved by the writer through the use of lexical hyperboles, including the words “completely”, “completely”, “all”. The metaphorical device is based on a figurative comparison. Phraseological hyperboles in literature are set expressions. Quantitative amplification includes a number designation.

Lexical hyperboles

Expressiveness is created in literature through the use of certain words:

completely bad, completely incomprehensible handwriting, no good, everyone knows.

Metaphorical hyperboles

The following phrases contain figurative transfer: the whole world is a theater, a forest of hands, a boundless ocean of love, promise mountains of gold.

Phraseological hyperboles

The following exaggerations are common expressions:

the goat understands, I’ll beat you like a baby, the contract is cheaper than the paper it’s written on.

Quantitative hyperbolas

Numerical exaggerations contain the following expressions:

a thousand things to do for the evening, I warned you a million times, a mountain of folders with papers.

Poetic examples of hyperbole in Russian

The expressiveness of a poetic work is achieved by exaggerating the meaning of sentences:

But I love - for what, I don’t know myself -

Its steppes are coldly silent,

Her boundless forests sway,

The floods of its rivers are like seas (M.Yu. Lermontov)

The sunset glowed with one hundred and forty suns... (V.V. Mayakovsky)

Midnight whirlwind - the hero is flying!

Darkness from his brow, dust whistling from him!

Lightning from the eyes runs ahead,

The oak trees lie in a row behind (G.R. Derzhavin).

Goy, Rus', my dear,

The huts are in the robes of the image...

No end in sight -

Only blue sucks eyes (S. Yesenin).

Literary exaggeration in prose

The stylistic device has found application in classical works literature:

Meanwhile, before the eyes of those traveling, a wide, endless plain, intercepted by a chain of hills, spread out. (A.P. Chekhov “Steppe”)

A rare bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper. (N.V. Gogol “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”)

Unheard of activity suddenly began to boil in all parts of the city... (M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”)

Video: Definition of hyperbole

Statements framed as hyperbole in Russian are based on evaluation, as evidenced by the definition given below. To the question “What is hyperbole in Russian”?

Hyperbole - what is it? Definition, meaning, translation

1) Hyperbole in literature is an artistic technique that consists of deliberately exaggerating the scale of a phenomenon in order to give the phrase greater expressiveness and emotional intensity. A hyperbola is similar to a parabola, but differs from it in its formal definition.

The artistic persuasiveness and ambiguity of hyperbole are all the more significant the more clearly the reader imagines the specific essence of the image or situation. By the way, the same goal can be pursued by understatement, litotes, which can be considered as a type of hyperbole, like hyperbole in literature “with a minus sign.” Here, hyperbole in literature takes on a symbolic meaning, suggesting an individual in captivity under many insignificant passions and circumstances... It is in a satirical work that hyperbole is most often appropriate and artistically justified. However, hyperbole in literature, even “mocking”, may not be clearly satirical.

For example: We haven’t seen each other for a hundred years, - “a hundred years” in in this case is a hyperbole (exaggeration of quantity), since it gives emotionality to speech and is used, of course, in figuratively. Hyperbole is often confused with comparison and metaphor, because they also often compare two objects. The main difference: hyperbole is always an exaggeration. For example: His legs were huge, like a barge. The example looks like a comparison, but, remembering how much the barge weighs, you will see an exaggeration and, accordingly, a hyperbole in this case.

Any literary work contains a number of special stylistic devices, for example, metaphor, comparison, grotesque or hyperbole. Simile and metaphor, just like hyperbole, compare objects and phenomena, but hyperbole is always an exaggeration. Remember, hyperbole in literature is a figurative expression, so it should not be taken literally.

IN lately hyperbole / litotes is actively used in the language of advertising. It is generally accepted that hyperbole is an exaggeration. 6. In other words, they do not correspond to the definitions of hyperbole. One of the consequences is to recognize that hyperbole is not typical for colloquial speech, that it lives only in the sphere of literary and artistic creativity.

When is hyperbole used in the Bible?

Hyperbole is found quite often in the Holy Scriptures in connection with the poetic style of narration. At the same time, there are also fragments in the Bible whose contents, although they resemble hyperbole, are only superficially understood.

Lexical hyperboles

Hyperbole is often combined with other stylistic devices, giving them an appropriate coloring: hyperbolic comparisons, metaphors, etc. (“the waves rose like mountains”). Hyperbole is also characteristic of the rhetorical and oratorical style, as a means of pathetic elation, as well as the romantic style, where pathos comes into contact with irony. Among Russian authors, Gogol is especially prone to hyperbole, and among poets, Mayakovsky. Hyperbole (rhetoric) - This term has other meanings, see Hyperbole.

To clearly understand what hyperboles are in literature, you need to know the methods of implementing amplification inherent in the text of a work of art. Phraseological hyperboles in literature are set expressions.

Language, as a phenomenon, often uses the same words to denote different concepts. Hyperbole is a figurative expression containing an exorbitant exaggeration of the size, strength, or significance of any object or phenomenon. Hyperbole can be idealizing and destructive.

Hyperboles are used to express language means: words, combinations of words and sentences.

A hyperbola can be defined as a conic section with an eccentricity greater than one. Hyperbolas A series of curved lines is known by this name in analytical geometry. 1) G. of the second order, or the so-called Apollonian hyperbole. Hyperboles in the Bible HYPERBOLES (Greek ὑπερβολή - exaggeration) IN THE BIBLE, fiction.

Most often, hyperboles can be found in epics. As a result, hyperbolic comparisons, metaphors, and personifications are formed. To emphasize the expressed idea and enhance the effect of what is said in literature, hyperbole is used. Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration in literary work to enhance the effect of perception.

To make speech more vivid and expressive, people use figurative language and stylistic devices: metaphor, comparison, inversion and others.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. All of us in our lives have said or heard similar expressions at least once (and some more than once): YOU ARE ALWAYS LATE or HAVEN'T SEEN SEEN FOR A HUNDRED YEARS.

And few people thought that these phrases were devoid of any common sense. So, a person simply cannot “always be late.” And it’s impossible for someone not to see each other for “a hundred years,” if only because people rarely live that long.

Such exaggerations in Russian are called hyperboles and they will be discussed in this publication.

Hyperbole is a beautiful exaggeration

This word itself is Greek - “hyperbole” and it means “excess, excess, exaggeration.”

Hyperbole is one of the means strengthening emotional assessment, which consists in excessive exaggeration of any phenomena, qualities, properties or processes. This creates a more impressive image.

Moreover, exaggeration often reaches completely incomprehensible concepts, sometimes even. Any foreigner, if translated literally, will be clearly puzzled. We have long been accustomed to them, and perceive them as completely normal.

Here are examples of the most commonly used hyperboles in everyday life:

SCARE TO DEATH
A THOUSAND SORRY
AT LEAST FLY
RIVERS OF BLOOD
MOUNTAINS OF CORPSES
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER
GO OVER A THOUSAND KILOMETERS
STAYED ALL DAY
LOTS OF MONEY
A Feast FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
SEA OF TEARS
NOT SEEN FOR 100 YEARS
OCEAN OF PASSIONS
WEIGHS ONE HUNDRED POUNDS
Smother in your arms
SCARED TO DEATH

All listed expressions we constantly use in colloquial speech. And for the sake of experiment, just try to parse them verbatim and see how funny and sometimes absurd some of them are.

Well, for example, “at least fill yourself up” - this should be such an amount of liquid that it is enough for a whole pool into which you could plunge headlong. Although in fact, with this expression we just want to say that we have a lot of drinks - even more than we need.

Or does the phrase “a lot of money” actually mean just good things? financial condition, and not that a person has collected all his savings and let’s put them in one pile.

And we never use the expression “to travel a thousand kilometers” we're talking about about the real distance, for example, from Moscow to Volgograd or Rostov-on-Don. But simply in the sense of “far”, although in fact in real numbers the distance there may be only a few kilometers.

And this way you can “debunk” absolutely any hyperbole. But you shouldn't do this. They do not have to mean the absolute truth; their task is to characterize a specific situation or thought in the most picturesque way, enhancing her emotional coloring.

Examples of hyperbole in fiction

In fact, such exaggerations are a very old literary device. It was used, and this was almost a thousand years ago. With the help of hyperboles, the strength of the heroes and their opponents was repeatedly strengthened.

The heroic sleep lasted 12 DAYS (well, a person cannot sleep for almost two weeks)
Countless forces stood in the way of the hero - A WOLF WILL NOT OUTRUN THEM IN A DAY, A RAVE WILL NOT FLY FROM THEM IN A DAY (how many enemies should there be - a million?)
The hero waves his hand - A STREET IS AMONG ENEMIES, he waves another - AN ALLEY (that is, with one blow the hero kills several dozen at once)
Ilya Muromets took a club WEIGHTING ONE HUNDRED POUDS (here you must understand that one hundred pounds is one and a half tons)
The Nightingale the Robber whistles - THE FOREST IS LOANING TO THE GROUND, AND PEOPLE ARE FALLING DEAD (well, this is something out of a fairy tale)

Exactly the same hyperboles occur in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". For example:

“The Russians blocked wide fields with scarlet shields, seeking honor for themselves and glory for the prince” or “The army is such that you can splash the Volga with oars and scoop up the Don with helmets.”

Among writers, Nikolai Vasilyevich has the most hyperbole Gogol. There are exaggerations in almost every one of his famous work. For example, he describes the Dnieper River:

A rare bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper.
The Dnieper is like a road without end in length and without measure in width.

Or he uses exaggerations in his words, putting them in the mouths of the heroes:

I would destroy you all into flour! (Governor)
Thirty-five thousand couriers alone... The State Council itself is afraid of me. (Khlestakov)

And in " Dead souls“There are these words: “Human passions are as countless as the sands of the sea.”

Almost every writer or poet uses hyperbole. With their help, they, for example, more colorfully describe the character of the heroes of works or show their author's attitude to them.

Moreover, writers often do not use already established expressions, but try to come up with something of their own.

Here's more examples of hyperbole in literature:

And a mountain of bloody bodies prevented the cannonballs from flying (Lermontov)
The sunset glowed with a hundred and forty suns (Mayakovsky)
A million torments (Griboedov)
A decent person is ready to run away to distant lands for you (Dostoevsky)
And the pine tree reaches the stars (Mandelshtam)
In the dream, the janitor became as heavy as a chest of drawers (Ilf and Petrov)

Examples of hyperbole in advertising

Of course, bypassing such an interesting technique that allows strengthen real value words, advertisers couldn’t get through either. A lot of slogans are based on this principle. After all, the task is to attract the client’s attention, while promising “mountains of gold” and in every possible way emphasizing the uniqueness of the product:

Taste on the verge of possible (chewing gum "Stimorol")
Control over the elements (Adidas sneakers)
King of salads (Oliviez mayonnaise)

The principle of hyperbole is also often used in the creation of advertising videos. For example, a series of famous videos about Snickers bars with the slogan “You are not you when you are hungry.” Where various characters turn into completely different people and start doing all sorts of stupid things, and only a candy bar can bring them back to normal.

These commercials clearly exaggerate (greatly exaggerate) the feeling of hunger and the “miraculous” power of Snickers itself.

Well the simplest example The hyperbole that is used in advertising is expressions like “the best”, “the most stylish”, “the most comfortable” and so on, but about prices, on the contrary, they say “the lowest”.

Instead of a conclusion

You can add greater expressiveness and emotional coloring to any expression not only with the help of hyperbole. There is a technique in the Russian language that is its complete opposite. He does not exaggerate, but, on the contrary, reduces the significance.