Question

Which literary technique does Shelley employ by addressing the West Wind at the beginning and throughout the ode?

A. sibilance
B. metonymy
C. personification
D. apostrophe

Answer 1

The answer is indeed letter D. apostrophe.

Step-by-step explanation:

Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which the author of a poem speaks directly to someone who is not there, someone who is dead, or an inanimate object. That is precisely what Shelley does in his poem "Ode to the West Wind". He addresses the wind, talks to it, as if the wind could hear and understand his words. Throughout the poem, he addresses the wind by using the pronoun "thou":

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

[...]

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

[..]

Answer 2

D.) Apostrophe is the correct answer.

In “Ode to the West Wind,” Shelley makes use of apostrophe to address the wind directly, pleading with the wind to spread his ideas and produce a political awakenening in the people.