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Difficulty: HardLiterary Devices and Figurative Language

Read the stanza below carefully:

"Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean – roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;"

What figure of speech is primarily deployed in the speaker's direct invocation to the ocean, and what is its contextual function?

  1. Apostrophe, used to create an elevated emotional invocation to an inanimate entity as if it were present and listening.Answer
  2. B
    Personification, used strictly to attribute human physical movement to the waves.
  3. C
    Hyperbole, intended to exaggerate the depth and coloration of the water.
  4. D
    Synecdoche, where the ocean is named to represent the whole of human civilization.

Answer

Apostrophe, used to create an elevated emotional invocation to an inanimate entity as if it were present and listening.
The correct response identifies apostrophe because the speaker directly addresses the non-human, inanimate ocean using second-person address ('thou'), treating it as a personified entity capable of hearing the imperative command ('Roll on').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the speaker's syntactic construction in the opening line.
The phrase 'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean – roll!' directly addresses the sea using the second-person pronoun 'thou'.
Identifying the target of the address establishes whether the line uses direct invocation.
2
Distinguish between related figures of speech.
Directly addressing an inanimate object or natural element as a conscious listener is the exact definition of apostrophe.
Although the ocean is treated with agency, the formal address elevates the device from standard personification to apostrophe.

Key Concept

Apostrophe in Poetry
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Topics

Literary Devices and Figurative Language

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