What is Invocation in literature?
Definition: Invocation is a literary device that refers to an appeal or request made to a deity, spirit, or higher power for guidance, protection, inspiration, or blessing at the beginning of a literary work or a specific section of it. It is often used in poetry, drama, and epic works.
Example of Invocation:
The opening lines of “Paradise Lost” by John Milton:
“Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse…”
Here, Milton invokes the “Heavenly Muse” to aid him in recounting the fall of man from the Garden of Eden and to inspire his work.
