Poetic Utterances: Attuning Poetry and Philosophy

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to attune poetry and philosophy (specifically the philosophy of speech acts). The general idea is that literary critical attention may guide and be guided by philosophical reflection on difficult cases. The chapter focuses on the use that poets make of a particular phrase-type: first person present indicative active, where the verb names the act performed in uttering it. Complexities arise where poets play with this form, leaving us in doubt whether its various features are indeed exemplified. This chapter aims to give us the resources to practise attunement on whole poems, thus shedding light on the way that phrases of this type fit into broader patterns.