Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour. The literary device used in the line above is _________

Analyze the question: The line is from William Wordsworth's sonnet "London, 1802." The speaker calls out to Milton, who is dead, as if he were present and able to hear. We need the device that matches this.

Explain the concept: Here are the four options:

• Aside: A short remark by a character in a play, heard by the audience but not by the other characters.
• Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which a speaker addresses a dead or absent person, an object, or an abstract idea as if it could hear and respond.
• Soliloquy: A speech in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud while alone, usually on stage.
• Suspense: A technique that builds tension and keeps the reader wondering what will happen next.

Step-by-step solution:

1. The line is "Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour."
2. The speaker directly addresses Milton, who died in 1674.
3. The exclamation mark and the pronoun "thou" show that he is speaking to Milton as though Milton were present.
4. Addressing a dead person as if he could hear is the definition of apostrophe.
5. It is not an aside or a soliloquy because those are dramatic devices, and this is a poem. It is not suspense because nothing is being held back from the reader.

Answer: The device is apostrophe, which is option B.

Exam tip: If a poem begins by calling out to someone dead, absent, or non-human, such as "O Death," "O Wind," or "Milton!", think apostrophe. Remember it as "Addressing the Absent."