Volta
The volta, Italian for 'turn', is the point in a poem, most often a sonnet, where the argument, mood or perspective shifts, usually signalled by a word such as 'but' or 'yet'.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 spends eight lines in despair: "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, / I all alone beweep my outcast state". Then comes the swing: "Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, / Haply I think on thee". One word, "Yet", and the poem changes direction. That is the volta.
Where it falls
- Petrarchan sonnet. The octave poses a problem and the sestet answers it. The turn comes after line eight.
- Shakespearean sonnet. Three quatrains build an idea, and the turn often arrives at line nine or in the final couplet, which can overturn what went before.
Sonnets are not the only form that turns. A tanka pivots from image to feeling, and many short poems swing on a single line.
Why a poem needs one
Without a turn, a poem is a statement. With one, it is an argument or a drama. The turn is where the poem shows it has been thinking, not just describing. It is often the line a reader remembers.
Why it matters to a writer or editor
When you edit a sonnet or any short poem, find the turn first. If you cannot, the poem may be one long note, and the fix is usually to give it a second thought that complicates the first. If the turn is there, check that it is earned: it should respond to what came before, not appear from nowhere. Short stories use the same move, a point where the situation reverses, and the same checks apply. See sonnet for the full form.
Read an example
Read an example: "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818), a public domain poem on Bossfeed, where the poem turns from the statue to the ruin around it.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the volta fall in a sonnet?
In a Petrarchan sonnet it comes at line nine, between the octave and the sestet. In a Shakespearean sonnet it often falls at line nine too, or at the closing couplet.
What words signal a volta?
'But', 'yet', 'and yet', 'still', 'then' and 'so'. Sometimes the shift comes without a signal word, through a change of subject or tone.
Do other poems have a volta?
Yes. The term is borrowed for any poem with a clear turn, and the idea is the same in a haiku's cut or a tanka's pivot.