Apostrophe (Not the Punctuation Mark): Meaning and Examples

Apostrophe, as a figure of speech, is a direct address to someone absent or dead, or to an object or an idea, spoken as though it could hear and answer.

Come on. Start. Please, just this once. Said to a car, in an empty car park, by someone who is already late.

That is apostrophe the figure of speech: a speaker turns away from whoever is actually there and speaks to someone absent or dead, or to an object or an idea, as though it could hear. It shares its name with the punctuation mark (the one in don't and Maya's) and nothing else. The word comes from the Greek for "a turning away", which is the whole move in two words.

Examples of apostrophe

From poems, plays and scripture

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, / How I wonder what you are. Why it works: a nursery rhyme spoken to a star turns a distant object into company.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. John Donne, speaking straight to Death. Why it works: addressing death as a person lets the speaker argue with it, and win.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians, in the King James Bible. Why it works: two questions to things that cannot reply, and the silence is the answer.
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Juliet, alone on her balcony (she thinks). Why it works: she says what she would never say to his face, because she believes he cannot hear. Wherefore means why, not where.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. Macbeth, to a dagger that is not there. Why it works: he talks to his own hallucination, and the audience watches his nerve give way in real time.

In fiction

She stayed at the grave after the others had gone back to the cars. "You'd have hated the flowers," she said. "Lilies. You always said they smelled like a hospital."

Why it works: nobody else is listening, so the reader trusts every word, and the lilies do a paragraph of backstory in one line.

Gerald glared at the printer. "I have fed you. I have cleaned you. I have never once kicked you. Do not do this to me today."

Why it works: comic apostrophe. Talking to the machine tells us how Gerald's day is going without the narrator saying so.

Well, London. Here I am. Do your worst.

Why it works: a character arriving somewhere new speaks to the whole city, and in eight words the story has an opponent.

What apostrophe does for a reader

It puts the reader in the position of overhearing. A character who speaks to a dead parent, an empty flat or a jammed printer is not performing for anyone in the scene, so the line reads as unguarded in a way ordinary dialogue does not. That makes apostrophe one of the quickest ways to give a character who is alone an inner life without narrating one: interiority delivered as speech.

It usually takes the imperative mood, the form of a verb used for commands and requests (start, come back, be quiet), because speaking to the absent almost always means asking them for something. In a screenplay it can be an honest alternative to a voice-over: the character says the private thing aloud, to the photograph or the sky, and we hear it without a narrator.

Apostrophe vs personification

The two overlap, but they are not the same thing.

Personification describes a thing as if it were human: The wind complained at the window.
Apostrophe speaks to it: Wind, give it a rest.

Most apostrophes to things include some personification, because talking to the wind assumes it can listen. But you can personify all day without addressing anything, and you can address a person (a dead father, a lover in another city) with no personification at all.

A quick test: is there a you, spoken or implied? If the sentence talks to the thing, it is apostrophe. If it only talks about the thing, it is personification.

When apostrophe works

The character is alone, or believes they are.
They have no one else to say it to.
It costs them something. The address comes at a turn in the scene, not as a habit.
The register allows it. A clipped thriller can carry a muttered Come on, come on to a slow lift; a formal O cruel fate would stop it dead.

Common mistakes

Using it too often. Apostrophe is theatrical and rarely survives being repeated. Keep the strongest instance and turn the others into action or thought.
A wobbling you. A speech that talks to the dead mother, then about her, then to her again blurs who is being addressed. Pick one and hold it.
Borrowed diction. O and thou belong to Donne and Shakespeare, not to a modern character. Let them speak to the absent the way they speak to the living.
Explaining it. She spoke to the photograph as if her father could hear her. The reader already knows. Cut the explanation and let the line stand.

Frequently asked questions

What is apostrophe in literature?

It is a figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off to talk directly to someone who is not there, or to something that cannot answer: a dead friend, the moon, a car that will not start. It has nothing to do with the punctuation mark except the spelling.

What is the difference between apostrophe and personification?

Personification describes a thing as if it were human, as in 'the wind complained'. Apostrophe speaks to it, as in 'Wind, give it a rest'. Talking to a thing usually implies it can listen, so the two often appear together, but you can personify something without ever addressing it.

Is 'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo' an apostrophe?

Yes. Juliet believes she is alone and speaks to Romeo as if he were there. 'Wherefore' means why, not where: she is asking why he has to be Romeo, a Montague.

Why is the figure of speech called apostrophe?

The word comes from the Greek for 'a turning away'. The speaker turns away from the people actually present to address someone or something else.

Can I use apostrophe in a novel or screenplay, or is it only for poetry?

It works well in fiction, usually in dialogue or close narration: a character talking to a photograph, a grave, a stubborn printer. It lands best once, at a moment when the character has no one else to say it to.