Apostrophe, Archaism, Assonance

Apostrophe:

An address to someone absent or something abstract as if the person

or the thing were present. It is often introduced by the exclamation

"O". Sheiley makes use of apostrophe in "Ode to the West Wind" at least seven times. Here is one of them:

O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Pope also uses Anaphora many times in The Rape of the Lock. Here is one:

"O wretched maid!" she spreads her hands, and cried

(While Hampton's echoes, "Wretched maid!" replied)

Here the maid who helped Belinda in her preparation for the day has been addressed. The maid is absent at the place where Belinda wails for the loss of one of her locks.

Here is an example from Keats's "To Autumn'";

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

(Keats: "To Autumn")

Here the speaker addresses the personified "Autumn" throughout the poem. It is an example of expanded apostrophe.

Archaism:

Use of a word or a style of writing which has already been old-fashioned. For example:

Lord, thou hast examined me and knowest me.

Thou knowest all, whether I sit down or rise up;

thou hast discerned my thoughts from afar. Thou hast traced my journey and my resting places, 

and art familiar with all my paths.

(The Bible; “Psalms” — 139) 

Here the words “thou” for you, “knowest” for know, “art” for are and “hast” for has are archaic words. A modern writer uses archaic words to add grandeur to his writing. Coleridge uses it in many lines of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. In the first line of the following quotation there are two examples: 

He prayeth well, who loveth well 

Both man and bird and beast. 

Assonance: 

Repetition of a vowel sound in nearby words (without the recurrence of consonant sounds which would make a rhyme). There is assonance in make and hate as the vowel “a” is only. repeated and the consonants after it —‘ke’ and ‘te’are different. But Love and dove are a case of rhyme as both vowel and consonant sounds are repeated. 

Examples: 

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn 

Among the river sallows, borne aloft 

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; (Keats: “To Autumn”) 

In these lines, “o” and “i” are repeated. 

Till morning touching mountain

And Jacob, waxing strong, 

The Angel begged permission 

To Breakfast—to return

(Emily Dickinson: “A little East of Jordan” 59) 

In these lines “a”, “e”, “i” and “o” are repeated. 

“Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.” (Bacon: “Of Studies”) 

Here ‘i’, and ‘a’ are repeated. Repetition of ‘for’ is a case of rhyme Assonance, like alliteration, is used for musical effects. 

Categories: English Literature