Apostrophe (figure of speech)

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For the apostrophe as a punctuation mark, see Apostrophe.

Apostrophe (Greek αποστροφη, turning away; the final e being sounded) is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech, when a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea. In dramatic works and poetry, it is often introduced by the word "O" (not to be confused with the exclamation "oh").

It is related to personification, although in apostrophe, objects or abstractions are implied to have certain human qualities (such as understanding) by the very fact that the speaker is addressing them as he would a person in his presence.

Apostrophe is often used to convey extreme emotion, as in Claudius' impassioned speech in Hamlet.

[edit] Examples

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:55
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! / Thou art the ruins of the noblest man / That ever lived in the tide of times." Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1.
"To what green altar, O mysterious priest, / Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, / And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?" John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
"O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!" Sir Walter Raleigh, A Historie of the World
"Roll on thou dark and deep blue ocean." Lord Byron, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
"Science! True daughter of Old Time thou art!" Edgar Allan Poe, "To Science".
Common usage as an opposition speaker at a political convention: "And I say to you, Mr. President, we do not want our children to grow up in a world where...(etc.)"
O Captain! My Captain!, title of Walt Whitman's poem.
Oh, brave new world that has such people in't!, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1.
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws, from Sonnet 19 by William Shakespeare