A sudden change or reversal in direction, opinion, or fortune; often refers to a turning point in poetry or music.
From Italian 'volta' meaning 'turn' or 'time' (as in 'once upon a time'). It entered English through musical and literary terminology, where it describes structural turning points.
In poetry, the volta is that magical moment where a sonnet suddenly shifts perspective—like in Shakespeare's sonnets where line 9 pivots everything you thought before! Musicians and poets treat the volta as essential architecture.
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