Austen's famous opening, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”, is ironic. The next paragraph reveals that it is really the neighbouring families who want the rich man for their daughters.
Austen's dialogue reveals character: Mrs Bennet chatters about Bingley's “four or five thousand a year”, while Mr Bennet's dry, brief replies tease her.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is a fourteen-line love poem. After eight lines listing summer's flaws, the volta at line 9 (“But thy eternal summer shall not fade”) turns to the beloved's lasting beauty, preserved in “eternal lines” of verse.
Worked example
Where is the volta in Sonnet 18, and what changes?
- Lines 1–8 list summer's imperfections.
- Line 9 begins “But”, turning to the beloved's permanence.
Answer:At line 9: the poem shifts from summer's flaws to the beloved's eternal beauty in verse.
Key words
- sonnet
- a fourteen-line poem
- volta
- the turn in a sonnet
- irony
- saying one thing but meaning another
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: RL.11-12.4, RL.11-12.6