Abstract: I will first set out a new objection to Austin’s remarks on poetry using his notion of uptake: that they sustain a particular form of silencing to whose explication (the ‘Austinian Analysis’) Austin himself contributes. I will then respond critically to those who deny that the Austinian Analysis discriminates and understands this kind of silencing, before suggesting ways we might improve the analysis. Finally, I will use these improvements to look again at Austin’s remarks on poetry, showing that if his remarks silence poets, they do so only in a limited sense.
