It is correct to use a comma here, as we’re setting off the name of the person who’s being directly addressed. This isn’t the same as the situations described in point 2 of this blog post, where we’re talking about people, not to them.

Using commas to set off the name of the person being directly addressed can help to avoid confusion. A classic example is the difference between these two sentences:

‘Let’s eat, Grandpa!’ (Come on Grandpa! Dinner’s ready.)
‘Let’s eat Grandpa!’ (Let’s cook Grandpa and eat him for dinner.)

If you think the comma looks optional or unnecessary in this sort of situation, it’s probably because of email. The way we address people in email is generally less formal than in a letter. These days, we’re used to dropping the comma when we address people directly in emails. Strictly, the correct grammatical form is this: ‘Hi, Zelda’ (with a comma). But few people do this today. Mostly, we do this: ‘Hi Zelda’ (no comma). Just remember that what’s fine for email isn’t necessarily going to work in other contexts.

I am trying, but I think it might be a bit late for a literary career for me, ha ha.

It’s never too late to learn!

Thanks Paul. What an interesting comment!

Indeed, speak in anastrophes Yoda does. (For anyone who’s wondering, an anastrophe is the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses.)

Both of the clauses we’re talking about are anastrophes because the word order is reversed in each:

Powerful you have become. (Instead of, You have become powerful.)
The dark side I sense in you. (Instead of, I sense the dark side in you.)

As each is a ‘complete thought’ (independent clause) we could put either one first:

Powerful you have become. The dark side I sense in you.
The dark side I sense in you. Powerful you have become.

I would argue that to join them together in one grammatically correct sentence we’d need a semi colon, a dash, or a conjunction:

Powerful you have become; the dark side I sense in you.
Powerful you have become — the dark side I sense in you.
Powerful you have become, and the dark side I sense in you.

Of course, we’re kind of nitpicking here as there’s no one right way to transcribe direct speech. You have to do your best to punctuate it based on how it sounds.

Thanks for an interesting discussion. Love how Yoda talks I do.

But, I was surprised to see how Yoda’s idiosyncratic syntax (possibly Star Wars’ greatest and most distinctive contribution to modern rhetoric) has been punctuated in the article.

A line like “Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you.” is an example of anastrophe – a rhetorical device used by writers such as Shakespeare, Yeats, and, more recently, by Tolkien (e.g. “In a hole in the ground there lived …”).

However, it is usually written as one sentence, not two, and using a conjunctive comma.