The apostrophe is a rhetorical figure in which a speech, dialogue or narrative is briefly broken into, to invoke imaginary or real characters. With this resource you try to capture the attention of the receiver and convey a feeling, idea or thought.
For example:
Oh sad dark clouds
that you walk so hard, take me out of these sadnesses
and take me to the depths
of the sea where you are going!
(Gil Vicente, Rubena’s Comedy).
In general, the second person is used in the apostrophe and, on some occasions, it consists of an “acclamation towards nothingness”. In addition, this figure is usually accompanied by exclamation or question marks.
As the objective of this resource is to capture the attention of the person who is exposed to the message, it is usually used in speeches that are prepared to be transmitted orally , such as the script of a play. It is also a widely used resource in poetry .
This literary figure was very recurrent in the plays of Ancient Greece, in which the characters pronounced the plays with their backs to the public.
- It can serve you: Lyrical poems
Examples of apostrophe
- Oh virtuous, magnificent war !
In you the quarrels were due,
in you of ours dying they lived
for glory in the skies and fame on earth,
in you the cruel spear never errs
nor does it fear the blood shed from relatives;
Revoke with you our people
of such desires and so much desferra.
(Juan de Mena, Labyrinth of Fortuna )
- Oh night you led !
Oh night, more lovely than the dawn!
Oh night that you joined, Beloved with beloved,
beloved in the Beloved transformed!
(Saint John of the Cross, Dark Night )
- Life , what can I give
to my God who lives in me,
if it is not to lose you in order
to better enjoy Him?
(Saint Teresa of Jesus, I live without living in me )
- Then, oh flower of Hysteria! , you cried and laughed;
your kisses and your tears I had in my mouth;
your laughs, your fragrances, your complaints were mine.
(Rubén Darío, Margarita )
- Come, gentle night, tender and gloomy night ,
give me my Romeo and, when I die,
cut him into a thousand tiny stars:
the firmament will look so beautiful
that the world, in love with the night,
will stop worshiping the hurtful sun.
(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet ).
- Giant waves that you break roaring
on the deserted and remote beaches,
wrapped in sheets of foam,
take me with you!
(Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Rima LII ).
- And she appeared naked all over …
Oh passion of my life , naked poetry
, mine forever!
(Juan Ramón Jiménez, Wine, first, pure ).
- Oh sweet garments for my evil found ,
sweet and happy when God wanted,
together you are in my memory
and with her in my death conjured!
(Garcilaso de la Vega, Sonnet X )
