SAT Prep

Category - Reading

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.



In a Shakespearean sonnet, the turn, or volta, is a shift in the poem the moves the narrative from a description of a situation, or proposal of a problem, to a resolution. Where does the volta occur in this sonnet?
  1. At the end of the first quatrain, “Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”
  2. At the ninth line, “In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,”
  3. At the end of the second quatrain, “In me thou see’st the twilight of such day.”
  4. At the beginning of the couplet, “This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,”
Explanation
Answer: D - The volta or turn in this sonnet occurs at the beginning of the couplet, at the twelfth line, “This thou perceiv’st which makes thy love more strong…” In the three quatrains of his sonnet, the speaker uses metaphors to describe death. He refers to the perceptions of another person, but not why those perceptions are relevant. In the couplet, the sonnet reveals the relationship between the speaker and the person he addresses and reveals that he believes the subject’s love becomes stronger because he sees that the speaker is near death. This brings resolution to the sonnet and reveals its purpose.
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