Within this piece, Donne addresses “Death”. This poem is one of nineteen sonnets included in Holy Sonnets or Divine Meditations, published after the poet’s death in 1633. As with techniques such as personification and anthropomorphism, it helps the reader empathize with the recipient of the speaker’s words and understand it/them better.Įxamples of Apostrophe in Literature Example #1 Death Be Not Proud by John Donne When a writer uses this technique they are able to give life to creatures, people, and objects that might otherwise seem flat and relatively unimportant. In these examples the narrator reasserts himself into the story, adding commentary or addressing a character, or even a god.
It was a technique used in works like Homer’s Odyssey. The word “apostrophe” comes from the Greek meaning “turning back”. When writers make use of this technique it is often accompanied by escalations like “Oh!” or “Alas”. These disparate recipients of a speaker’s words are unified by the belief, on the part of the speaker, real or not, that whoever or whatever they are speaking to can hear and understand them. Often, this technique is used when a speaker addresses a god or group of gods. It might also be a non-human animal, an abstracted, but personified force, or even an object. This could be a person they know or don’t know someone who is alive or dead, or someone who never existed at all.
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