Though Shakespeare and calm Wordsworth loved it well, Avoid the sonnet, follower of the muse! -- Though Milton joyed its supple grace to use, And Petrarch formed it in a golden bell. If coon-song or a limerick, -- 'tis well; Nor ballads will the editor refuse; But classic fair refinements he eschews. Avoid the sonnet, for it will not sell! Forget its ordered passion, and forget The stately measured cadence of the lyre. Assume the cap and bells, and learn to fret Some banjo's crudely titillating wire. What's art, what's beauty, when a man's in debt? Fie! here's another sonnet for the fire! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY HUT; AFTER TRAN QUANG KHAI by HAYDEN CARRUTH SUPREME by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MA LADY'S LIPS AM LIKE DE HONEY (NEGRO LOVE SONG) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE PLACE OF PEACE by EDWIN MARKHAM |