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It is said that a young Japanese poet once asked a Chinese poet how to compose a Chinese poem. “The usual Chinese poem is four lines," he was told. "The first line contains the initial phrase; the second line, the continuation of that phrase; the third line turns from this subject and begins a new one, but the fourth line brings the first three lines together."
A popular Japanese song illustrates this:
Two daughters of a silk merchant live in Kyoto.
The elder is twenty, the younger, eighteen.
A soldier may kill with his sword,
But these girls slay men with their eyes.
Many well-known four-line Chinese poems, particularly those in the jueju (or quatrain) form, masterfully incorporate a "turn" or a shift in perspective, mood, or subject matter in the third line, before the concluding fourth line brings the poem to a close.
Poems from all cultures often have a turn. That turn is known as the "volta" which comes from Italian, meaning “turn.” It traces back to the Latin verb volvere, which means “to roll” or “to turn." In poetry, it metaphorically represents a shift in thought, emotion, or argument.
Petrarch, the 14th-century Italian poet, popularized the sonnet form that includes a volta between the octave (8 lines) and the sestet (6 lines). In his sonnets, the octave presents a problem or situation, and the sestet offers a resolution or counterpoint. Later, Shakespearean sonnets adopted a different placement for the turn. It often appears before the final rhymed couplet.
Two examples of turns in longer English poems: In Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 18," the turn comes at line 9: “But thy eternal summer shall not fade…” —shifting from admiring nature to praising the beloved’s lasting beauty. In Elizabeth Bishop’s "The Moose," the turn moves from a mundane bus ride to a mystical encounter with a moose and transforms the poem’s tone and meaning.
"Question And Answer On The Mountain" by Li Po:
You ask for what reason I stay on the green mountain,
I smile, but do not answer, my heart is at leisure.
Peach blossom is carried far off by flowing water.
Apart, I have heaven and earth in the human world.
For our September issue, we are interested in the shorter jueju form popular during the Tang Dynasty where the turn occurs in line 3 of the 4-line poem. Not unlike haiku, this structure allows for a "finale" and invites reflection.
Although most jueju are a single 4-line poem, "On Returning Home," by He Zhizhang, is a double jueju. There are two third-line turns.
When young, I left home, now old, I return.
My hometown accent is still the same.
Children don't know who I am.
Smiling, they point at the strange man.
I dismount my horse at the gate of my house.
I ask after the old friends I knew.
Where are the peach and plum trees, now gone with the spring wind?
The old man who lives there is no longer me.
A turn is a shift in a poem’s tone or mood. It could indicate a turn from sorrow to hope. It could also indicate a turn in perspective or speaker, or mark a turn in an argument, or imagery.
"Thoughts Four" by Zhang Jiuling
South of the Yangtze the tangerine grows.
All winter long its leaves are green.
What can prevent our worries?
Forget the shade of other trees.
The turn (or turns, in poems of multiple stanzas) in a poem can add several things. It can add depth by introducing complexity and surprise. In a longer poem, it adds movement, keeping the poem dynamic. Near the end of a poem, it can present a resolution to earlier ideas, or even intensify rather than resolve them.
The Tang Dynasty (618–907) is considered to be the golden age of Chinese culture, and many of China’s greatest poets were writing at this time. Poetry and the arts flourished. Poets were writing about all the big themes of love, war, and also the delights of drinking and dancing and the beauties of nature. Many anthologies of Tang poems exist and are still popular in Chinese homes.
BESIDE THE GORGE
Cold moon painted on far peaks.
Pines hum in the night wind.
A constellation forms in my quieting mind.
A train whistle where no train travels.
Albert J. Reeves
REFLECTION ON SOLITUDE
I walk a solitary path each day
Where breezes carry the scent of plum blossoms
If I had a friend, I'd have to share their fragrance
Ah, it is I who have rejected the world
Jackie Chou
UNWINDING
calm sea, low tide, deep blue sky
cool breeze, wet sand, lone gull's cry
gray hair, thoughts stray, time plays tricks
eyes bright, hands rough, smooth stones skipped
Frank Kelly
IN THE NIGHT CAFE
Lantern light spills gold along the street,
Flutes and drums send spring into the night.
I lift my glass — but the seat beside is empty,
Moonlight chills the wine before my lips.
Lily Hayashi
MODEL
She set out to become a model woman.
It was what her mother taught her,
her conformity modeled in stone.
She ground it to dust and became herself.
Lynn White
THERE ARE NO WOLVES HERE
My dog is half wild, learning new ways
to live with a human by human rules.
We walk the woods trail where the wind plays.
Now I’m learning to meet my dog half-way.
Taylor Graham
BLESSING
Wildfire smoke erases the skyline.
Storms turn streets into seas.
My child climbs onto my lap each evening.
Happy climate change in my anxious heart.
Susan Spaeth Cherry
THE TURN
Morning light illuminates the white page,
Ideas arriving in gentle breezes
A text message chirps like an annoying bird
Verses depart with effortless ease.
Ink flows like a freezing stream,
Words appear hesitantly unblanking the page.
Chaos turns, filling the ordered cage.
It is not this poem
Katie Milburn
JEUJU
The patriot hosta bloomed white flowers,
its base leaves drooped dying.
I watched a cooking show and, inspired,
created the same dish, yet inedible.
Linda K. Miller
ERATO
Like a soft breeze you came to me,
filling my life with image and song,
but with a pelting rain you left me
alone, staring at a blank screen.
Robert Miller
THE TSUNAMI OF 2025
A double Jueju
On the Russian coast,
An earthquake cracks the seabed.
Tsunami sirens
Blast at dawn in Hawaii.
Ships leave the harbor
And circle the island, but
Just a few high waves
Arrive under the half-moon.
Rose Anna Higashi
ALASKAN ELEMENTS
Juneau’s Gold Creek ripples, salving river rock.
Bald eagles own a different current above.
I’m jealous of a dog’s indifference
to the water’s force as he ambles.
Rob Friedman
DEAN
My middle child sports the growing belly of motherhood
She ponders in her heart what this new life will be
The butterfly floats gently on the breeze
Why did you have to fly away, little one?
Laurie Sitterding
BLAZE
Hood Canal forest fires rage
scarlet August sunsets paint visual delights
as Carole’s death ravages my heart like scorched earth
meantime nature’s wary creatures choke on smoke.
Sterling Warner
BEYOND WHITE PICKET FENCES
Bellies full of pumpkin pie in November,
Families sing Joy to the World in December.
Mothers close doors to keep out cold blasts,
Bombs fall in Ukraine, lost sons remembered.
Leslayann Schecterson
ASYMMETRICAL WITH FULL SKIRT
In search of a dress for a friend's wedding
Casual yet elegant; attractive but not distracting
How does one travel from Paris to Burgundy?
A pocketed dress will warm unengaged hands
Terri J. Guttilla