A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses an imaginary person or discusses someone as if absent.
From Greek allo- (other, different) + -osis (condition or process). Related to apostrophe in rhetoric, this term describes a specific turn in discourse where the speaker changes their address.
In Shakespeare's plays, when a character suddenly speaks directly to an absent person or object (like 'O death, why must thou come?'), that's alloeosis—it's an ancient rhetorical trick that still makes audiences feel the emotional intensity.
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