In this video, Chancellor Linda Gregerson considers the history of the sonnet leading up to Shakespeare, citing examples from Petrarch and Thomas Wyatt.
In her discussion of the form's evolution, she says, “Love is something deeply embedded in the tradition. Erotic love that must be impeded—crucial to this love and the function in the lyric poem is that it’s got to be frustrated by something.”
This video is taken from a 2015 Chancellor Conversation titled Tracing the Lyric, featuring Linda Gregerson, Jane Hirshfield, and Mark Doty.