English Literature GCSE
Apostrophe
What Apostrophe means in English Literature GCSE, as defined for OCR, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Apostrophe
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
A figure of speech in which the poet addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing. In 'Death Be Not Proud', the entire poem is an apostrophe to the personified figure of Death.
A direct address to an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object.
Topics that use Apostrophe
- Death Be Not Proud (OCR GCSE)
- Poetry Anthology: Time and Place (15 poems – Romantic, Literary Heritage, Contemporary) (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Personification
- Caesura
- Free Verse
- Holy Sonnet
- Iambic Pentameter
- Metaphysical Conceit
- Paradox
- Petrarchan Sonnet
Using Apostrophe in the exam
Definition questions usually carry one or two marks, and examiners look for the precise wording. Write the definition from memory, check it against the version above, and then use the term in a longer answer on the same topic so it sticks.
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