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Meta-volta

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A volta that self-consciously addresses or thematizes its own turn, making the shift an explicit subject of the poem.

Detailed Definition
Meta-volta denotes a turn within a poem that self-consciously comments on the act of turning itself—reflecting on poetic structure, expectation, or the nature of revelation; it transcends the traditional volta by embedding metapoetic awareness into the pivot moment.
Example
Example in poetry:
A meta-volta in Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait”: “But your gaze / shifts to the painter—”; In sonnets that question their own turn: “And yet, is this turn true?”; Contemporary meta-volta: “This poem should pivot now— / but I refuse”; Meta-volta reflects on the volta itself as poetic device; Meta-volta disrupts expectation of resolution
Additional Notes
Reversal or turn within meta-level reflection on poem itself. Related: volta, meta-poetry. Tip: Occurs when poem turns to comment on its own turning—self-conscious shift examining poem's own structural movement.
Also Known As
Turn about turn Second-order volta Volta on volta Meta-reversal
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