«Vers carminiformes» and « oraison soluë » in Rabelais’s work: poetry and poetics of constellation

Abstract

The article focuses on the study of poetry in the works of Rabelais. I will analyze Rabelais’s poetic language, which moves the reader mainly through its materiality and musicality. Rabelais’s work may be characterized as poetic inasmuch as this adjective is endowed with the full range of contradictions that it is liable to have. Thus, poetry, in the Rabelaisian “novels”, emerges richer —or rather, enriched—, because it is capable of encompassing alliances of all genres. This leads us to wonder what the function of poetry is in Rabelais’s works: is it an instrument of diversification? If this is the case, it is necessary to define the scope of Rabelais’s poetry, which constitutes an essential component of his oeuvre. Far from being an obstacle to the construction of meaning, his poetry would be, on the contrary, an asset.