The octave and sestet have special functions in a Petrarchan sonnet. The octave 's purpose is to introduce a problem, express a desire, reflect on reality, or otherwise present a situation that causes doubt or a conflict within the speaker 's soul and inside an animal and object in the story. It usually does this by introducing the problem within its first quatrain (unified four - line section) and developing it in the second. The beginning of the sestet is known as the volta, and it introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet; the change in rhyme scheme marks the turn. The sestet 's purpose as a whole is to make a comment on the problem or to apply a solution to it. The pair are separate but usually used to reinforce a unified argument -- they are often compared to two strands of thought organically converging into one argument, rather than a mechanical deduction. Moreover, Petrarch 's own sonnets almost never had a rhyming couplet at the end as this would suggest logical deduction instead of the intended rational correlation of the form.
where does the volta occur in english and italian sonnets
The beginning of the sestet