AP® English Literature and Composition review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/lit/units/2/2-3)
Unit 2 · Topic 2.3
2.3 Shifts and contrasts in a poem
A shift is a turn in a poem: a change in tone, time, attitude, speaker, subject or imagery. Shifts create contrasts between one part of the poem and another, and those contrasts are often where the poem's meaning becomes clearest.
Key terms
- shift
- volta
- contrast
- juxtaposition
- tension
Contrast: two things set side by side
Poems often work by setting things against each other: past and present, hope and fear, the speaker's view and someone else's, an ugly image and a beautiful one. Almost anything can set up a contrast: two images, two moments in time, two places, two tones, or the speaker's view against someone else's.
Contrasts happen in two main ways. A shift is a change over time as you read, where the poem turns from one thing to another. Juxtaposition is placing two contrasting things right next to each other, sometimes in the same line. Many poems use both.
How shifts are signaled
Some shifts are loud, like a stanza that begins with "But." Others are quiet, like images that gradually move from summer to winter. Mark both kinds.
| Signal | Examples | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| A word | but, yet, still, now, then, until, though | Words that pivot an argument or mark a time change |
| A structural break | A new stanza, the last two lines of a sonnet, a change in line length | A visible break in the pattern |
| Punctuation | A dash, a colon, a question mark, a line of ellipses | A pause or rupture that changes direction |
The volta
In a sonnet, a 14-line poem, the turn is often called the volta (Italian for "turn"). It commonly comes at line 9 or at the final two lines, called the couplet. You won't be asked to name a sonnet's type on the exam, but knowing that sonnets often turn helps you look in the right place.
Why shifts matter
A shift emphasizes the difference between the parts it separates. If a poem spends eight lines on misery and then turns to joy, the joy feels bigger because of what came before. When you write about a shift, explain what changes, how the poem signals it and what the contrast reveals about the speaker or the poem's meaning.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
A turn signaled by "Yet"
In William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 (published 1609), the speaker begins in despair: "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes / I all alone beweep my outcast state" (lines 1–2). He envies other men's looks, friends and talents. Then, at line 9: "Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising, / Haply I think on thee, and then my state, / Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate" (lines 9–12). ("Haply" means by chance.) Explain the shift and what it reveals.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Find the signal: "Yet" at the start of line 9, the usual spot for a sonnet's turn.
- Step 2: Name what changes. Lines 1–8 are about the speaker's failures and envy. Lines 9–12 turn to the beloved ("thee") and to joy.
- Step 3: Look at the imagery on each side. Before: he's "all alone," weeping, an "outcast." After: his state is "Like to the lark," rising "From sullen earth" to "heaven's gate."
- Step 4: Explain what the contrast shows: the thought of the beloved lifts him so far that his sense of failure becomes almost irrelevant.
Answer: Model paragraph: The single word "Yet" at line 9 turns Sonnet 29 from self-pity to celebration. For eight lines the speaker is "all alone," weeping over his "outcast state," trapped in envy of other men. Once he thinks of the beloved, the poem lifts off: his state becomes "Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth." The image of rising from heavy, gloomy ground into song at "heaven's gate" mirrors the poem's own movement from the low first half to the high second half. Because the despair was so complete, the turn shows how much power love has: it doesn't change the speaker's circumstances at all, only how he feels about them.
Common mistakes
- Spotting a shift but not explaining what's on both sides of it. A shift is only meaningful as a contrast.
- Looking only for "but" and "yet." Shifts can also come through stanza breaks, punctuation, tense changes or changes in imagery.
- Calling every new idea a shift. A shift is a real change in direction, not just the next point.
On the exam
- Multiple-choice questions often ask where a shift occurs or how one section of a poem relates to another. Compare the tone and imagery before and after.
- In the poetry essay, organizing your analysis around a shift (before the turn, after the turn, what the change means) gives you a clear line of reasoning.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 2.3 Shifts and contrasts in a poem. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask” (1895), from Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
In the third stanza (lines 10–15), the poem shifts chiefly by
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29, from Shake-speares Sonnets (1609). “bootless”: useless. “Haply”: by chance.
Which word first signals the turn in the speaker's thinking?
The poem contrasts the speaker's envy of “this man’s art, and that man’s scope” (line 7) with his refusal “to change my state with kings” (line 14). This contrast mainly suggests that
Christina Rossetti, “Up-Hill” (1861), from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862)
Which contrast is most central to the poem?
0 of 4 answered