The Politics of Form in Marge Piercy’s “The Secretary Chant”: Is Literary Criticism Still Possible at the Present Time?

Abstract:I propose to apply Eagleton’s concept of “the politics of form” to the way we should, in the present political and pedagogical climate, study and teach poetry—and particularly to how we should approach poems that can easily lead teachers to focus primarily, if not exclusively, on the politics of their content. In particular, Marge Piercy’s widely available “The Secretary Chant” (1973) is an excellent primary exhibit because its popularity with anthologists and teachers alike is due as much to its political relevance as to its status as a poem.