Love Song for Alex, 1979

A sonnet is a shorter lyric poem with 14 lines. Sonnets are usually written in iambic pentameter (a form that has 10 alternating unstressed and stressed syllables per line) and have a set rhyme scheme. A sonnet also contains a volta, or a change in the poem’s subject or meaning.

While “Love Song for Alex, 1979” has 14 lines like a traditional sonnet, it sometimes has more than 10 syllables per line. There is, however, a significant change, or volta, in the sonnet after Line 10.

A volta is a change in thought in a sonnet, sometimes called a turn. In more traditional sonnets the volta occurs at the same point in the poem every time. For example, in an Italian sonnet the volta appears around the ninth line. In a Petrarchan sonnet the volta is usually in the third quatrain. Shakespeare’s sonnets often turned in a couplet.

The volta in “Love Song for Alex, 1979” seems to take place in Line 10, where the poem ceases to rhyme, Walker refers to “they” and “us” instead of “my” and “him,” and word choices become less about their specific relationship and more about enduring landmarks, like oceans and planets.

Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the beginning of stressed syllables. Writers uses alliteration to create rhythm, emphasize a certain phrase, and set a tone.

Walker uses alliteration frequently in “Love Song for Alex, 1979,” perhaps most notably in the first line with the use of the letter “M”: “My monkey-wrench man, my sweet patootie” (Line 1). This repetition gives the impression of murmuring, almost as though Walker is affectionately and gently murmuring Alex’s nicknames.