I give you a new definition of a sentence: A sentence is a sound
in itself on which other sounds called words may be strung. You
may string words together without a sentence sound to string
them on just as you may tie clothes together by the sleeve and
stretch them without a clothes line between two trees, but—it is
bad for the clothes. Frost's definition is excellent for Frost.
What poses as a meaningful definition--a logical definition of a
sentence--ends up as a rhetorical introduction for a critique of
other verse. In other words, the significance of his definition
is not the so-called definition but the claim that all else is
"bad for the clothes." O, come to the defense of Frost if you
must. I will say now: I read his poems. I'll say now: I have a
genuine interest and admiration for Frost's work. I'll make it
clear: a working knowledge and continuing learning of prosody is
essential to a well-rounded education of poetry, of poetics. The
problem is his explicit prohibition and the circularity in his
reas