Between Text and Paratext: The Prefatory Poem in the Early Printed Book (RSA 2026)
This panel seeks papers for the Renaissance Society of America’s annual meeting (February 19–21, 2026, San Franscico, California). It explores an overlooked poetic genre: the prefatory poem of the early printed book for the It considers such appendages as simultaneously occupying the niches of text and paratext: discrete units which both conform to the structural and aesthetic constraints of poetry and adorn a corresponding, substantive text. These poems are at once ubiquitous and neglected, appearing in books of nearly all genres: from the luxury atlas to the sailing manual; from the personal devotional to the folio Bible; from the illustrated epic poem to the clinical legal handbook.