Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why a volta is the hinge
The volta is the turn that swings a sonnet's later thought on its opening.
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From the opening
A volta is the hinge in a sonnet, the place where the poem's thought swings from one pressure to another. The word means a turn, and it names the joint at which setup becomes response, complication, or conclusion, rather than naming a particular feeling the joint must contain. The opening covers why the turn is a hinge, how the second part uses the first, and where readers may disagree on the line.
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Inside
- Why the turn is a hinge
- How the second part uses the first
- Where readers may disagree on the line
- When a poem withholds the swing
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- The volta as the turn inside a sonnet
- The hinge between a setup and its revision