Without metaphors, fiction (both classical and modern) would be difficult to imagine. It is metaphors that can be attributed to the central paths used in the composition. Such rhetorical constructions make it possible to make any story realistic, to convey a certain emotional gamut to the reader.
Multiple psychological studies have confirmed that it is metaphorical images that are most strongly imprinted in the human memory. It is with the help of such an associative series that the reader can recreate in his thoughts the picture of what he read.
The real "queen of the ball" is a detailed metaphor. It makes it possible to simultaneously convey a whole set of images, and through them - a certain thought or idea. A detailed metaphor is consistently carried out over a large fragment of text. Often, writers use this technique for word games, for example, using the metaphorical meaning of a word or expression next to the direct to get a comic effect.
Unlike other paths that allow you to make literary speech more expressive, a metaphor can exist as a separate phenomenon when it becomes the aesthetic end in itself of the author. At this moment, the essence of the statement loses its decisive importance, that unexpected meaning, the new meaning that it acquires through the use of a metaphorical image, comes to the fore.
The very meaning of the word "metaphor" is rooted in ancient Greece. This word is translated as “figurative meaning”, which fully explains the essence of the trail. By the way, ancient literature was richer in epithets than metaphors. Nevertheless, in the works of Pindar, Aeschylus, Homer and many other outstanding figures of the world of literature of that time, these techniques are used very actively. It is noteworthy that some of the works (in particular, the mythology of the ancient Greeks) can be safely called the personification of how a detailed metaphor might look. Indeed, absolutely every image, regardless of whether it was a question of any of the deities or their actions, carried a certain subtext, an analogy with the life of ordinary mortals.
No other device can so vividly convey to the reader a picture that was presented to the eyes or imagination of the author, like a detailed metaphor. Examples of its use can be found both in classical antique literature and in later ones. Our compatriots did not lose sight of this technique. For example, a detailed metaphor has become one of the main distinguishing features of Sergey Yesenin’s work (“The day will go out, flashed with the fifth gold …”, “At the wattle fence the overgrown nettles are dressed with bright nacre …”, etc.). The real master of metaphors was the notorious Oscar Wilde.
True masters of the word often combine in their creations a detailed and individual-author metaphor. This is what can give any work, poetic or prosaic, a unique flavor and atmosphere.
