Poetics of the Rule: Form, Biopolitics, Lyric.

Author / Editor
Nelson, Ingrid.

Title
Poetics of the Rule: Form, Biopolitics, Lyric.

Published
New Literary History 50 (2019): 65-89.

Description
Rethinks "formalism with respect to biopolitics" as articulated by Giorgio Agamben and describes "premodern and modern concepts of form, life, and rule," arguing that Chaucer's Truth, Gent, Sted, and especially For explore "the intersections between form and life by way of the concept of the rule" and "model . . . how poetry can articulate and indeed practice ethics." Asserts that "these poems demonstrate that Chaucer construes both his Boethianism and his lyricism as biopolitical practices."

Chaucer Subjects
Lyrics and Short Poems
Fortune
Truth
Gentilesse
Lak of Stedfastnesse