Apostrophe

Turning from the person or persons to whom a discourse is addre ed and appealing to some person or thing absent, constitutes what, in rhetoric, is called the apostrophe . The following are some examples: "O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulne ?" "Sail on, thou lone imperial bird Of quenchle eye and tirele wing!" "Help, angels, make a ay! Bow, stubborn knees! and heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe: All may yet be well!"