SOURCE: "Petrarch, Shakespeare, and the Blues," in New England Review, Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer, 1997, pp. 118-131.

In the following essay, Frost compares the evolution of the sonnet form with that of the blues song.

I

Art, as we know, concerns form: symmetry and surprise. And in poetry, no less in modern times than in antiquity, an important distinction is made between the poets who look for new forms and those who borrow existing forms. The attention paid to poets relates to this distinction. An audience may ask, Does the poet go on his nerve, or is he careful? In this matter general taste, rather than particular aesthetic considerations, seems to determine poetic value for people—for reader and writer both. People know what they like and what they don't like. If they like a good story, they like narrative poetry, and they read or write narrative poetry. If they...