Sonnet 31

Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a writer addresses an absent person, an inanimate object, an idea, or even a force of nature. It is important that the person or thing being addressed is not able to hear and understand the speech, because the message of an apostrophe is always meant for someone else. In Sidney’s poem, for example, the words addressed to the moon give the speaker of the poem a way of expressing his frustration with his beloved to himself or perhaps even to her. Write a poem in which you, like Sidney, use an extended apostrophe to communicate an idea.