Editing Apostrophe (figure of speech)

{{Short description|Figure of speech used in theatre}}
An '''apostrophe''' is an exclamatory [[figure of speech]].<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Apostrophe|volume=2|page=205|short=y}}</ref> It occurs when a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes absent from the scene. Often the addressee is a personified abstract quality or inanimate object.<ref name="HaysDuvall2011">{{cite book|last1=Hays|first1=J. Daniel|last2=Duvall|first2=J. Scott|title=The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook |edition=Text Only|url={{google books|id=ydz4A4nNHFoC|page=891|plainurl=yes|text=apostrophe}}|date=1 September 2011|publisher=Baker Books|isbn=978-1-4412-3785-9|page=891}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Margaret L.|last=Ford|title=Techniques of Good Writing|url={{google books|id=E8ft5Ub4r6oC|page=27|plainurl=yes|text=apostrophe}}|access-date=8 August 2013|year=1984|publisher=Irwin Pub|isbn=978-0-7725-5001-9|page=27}}</ref> In dramatic works and poetry written in or translated into English, such a figure of speech is often introduced by the vocative exclamation, "O". Poets may apostrophize a beloved, the Muses, God or gods, love, time, or any other entity that can't respond in reality.

==Examples==
* "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" [[1 Corinthians 15]]:55, [[Paul the Apostle]]
* "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." [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', act 3, scene 1
* "O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die." ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', act 5, scene 3, 169–170.
* "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]]''
* "Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!" [[Thomas De Quincey]], ''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]''
* "Roll on, thou dark and deep blue Ocean – roll!" [[Lord Byron]], ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]''
*"Thou glorious sun!" [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], "[[This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison|This Lime Tree Bower]]"<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenblatt|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Greenblatt|title=[[The Norton Anthology of English Literature]]|edition=8|volume=D|year=2006|publisher=Norton|location=New York|page=429}}</ref>
* "[[Death Be Not Proud (poem)|Death, be not proud]], though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so." [[John Donne]], "[[Holy Sonnet X]]"
* "And you, Eumaeus..." [[Homer]], the ''[[Odyssey]]'' 14.55, κτλ.
* "O My friends, there is no friend." [[Montaigne]], originally attributed to [[Aristotle]]<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9282700_ITM | work=American Imago | title=Politics of friendship. (Cover Story) | date=September 22, 1993}}</ref>
* "O black night, nurse of the golden eyes!" [[Electra]] in [[Euripides]]' ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'' (c. 410 BC, line 54), in the translation by David Kovacs (1998).
* "Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief." Queen Isabel in ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward II]]'' by [[Christopher Marlowe]]

==See also==
* {{Section link|Anthropomorphism|In literature}}
* [[List of narrative techniques]]
* [[Fourth wall]]
* [[Monologue]]
* [[Simile]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{fiction writing}}
{{Figures of speech}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Acting techniques]]
[[Category:Dhikr]]