Final answer:
The speaker in 'Apostrophe to the Ocean' likely feels a profound, complex connection to the ocean, which serves as a powerful reminder of personal circumstances and elicits deep contemplation and existential thought.
Step-by-step explanation:
The speaker in 'Apostrophe to the Ocean' exhibits a deep emotional connection and response to the ocean that is reflective, melancholic, and introspective. This character likely feels overpowered by the sight of the ocean, which stirs profound thoughts and feelings. The ocean is a source of contemplation, evoking a sense of awe, freedom, and also a reminder of the speaker's own situation or existential musings. The speaker uses the literary device of apostrophe to directly address the ocean, or aspects of it, as if it were a sentient being capable of listening and understanding.
In the provided excerpts, speakers connect with the sea on various levels - sometimes as a source of identity and comfort, as seen in Mrs. Ebbling's reverence for the ocean of her birth, or as an indifferent force, as with the drowning correspondent in 'The Open Boat'. The idea that nature is indifferent to individual human struggles, and the notion that human existence is trivial in comparison to the vast, unknowable truths represented by the ocean, are common themes.