--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The gestures poems make are the same as…" description: "\"“The gestures poems make are the same as the gestures of ritual injunction — curse; exorcism; prayer; underlying everything perhaps, the attempt to mak..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/frank-bidart-22869_poetry_the-gestures-poems-make-are-the-same-as_721663.jpg" --- # The gestures poems make are the same as the gestures of… ![“The gestures poems make are the same as the gestures of ritual injunction — curse; exorcism; prayer; underlying everything perhaps, the attempt to make someone or something live again. Both poet and shaman make a model that stands for the whole. Substitution, symbolic substitution. The mind…” quote by Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/frank-bidart-22869_poetry_the-gestures-poems-make-are-the-same-as_721663.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/frank-bidart-22869_poetry_the-gestures-poems-make-are-the-same-as_721663.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/854/frank-bidart-22869_poetry_the-gestures-poems-make-are-the-same-as_721663.jpg) > ““The gestures poems make are the same as the gestures of ritual injunction — curse; exorcism; prayer; underlying everything perhaps, the attempt to make someone or something live again. Both poet and shaman make a model that stands for the whole. Substitution, symbolic substitution. The mind conceives that something lived, or might live. Implicit is the demand to understand. The memorial that is ward and warning. Without these ancient springs poems are merely more words.”” [Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-bidart/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry functions like ritual, using symbolic gestures to revive meaning and demand understanding, akin to shamanic practices. **In simple terms:** Poetry revives meaning through symbolic ritual. Key Takeaway Use poetry to explore deeper truths. Themes ritual symbolism revival understanding memory Mood contemplative introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative writing - therapy - ceremonial practice - cultural analysis Key Concepts shamanism symbolic substitution poetic function Questions to Reflect On - How does ritual shape poetic meaning? - What symbols in poetry resonate with you? A Different Perspective Poetry may be inaccessible without cultural context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer/) [Ritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ritual/) ## Related quotes > [“The poet is a shaman of words & sounds, praying linguistically over each while blessing the poetic whole.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-mag-man/the-poet-is-a-shaman-of-words-sounds-praying-linguistically-over-each/) [the mag man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-mag-man/) > [“Don't confuse the teacher with the lesson, the ritual with the ecstasy, the transmitter of the symbol with the symbol itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/don-t-confuse-the-teacher-with-the-lesson-the-ritual-with-the-ecstasy/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“If you're not a sex symbol, you're in trouble.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-gurley-brown/if-you-re-not-a-sex-symbol-you-re-in-trouble/) [Helen Gurley Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-gurley-brown/) > [I don't have to assert my virility. 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Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-d-burns/) ## More by Frank Bidart > [Play, and escaping the ideology one grew up in, is freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-bidart/play-and-escaping-the-ideology-one-grew-up-in-is-freedom/) [Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-bidart/) > [“We fill pre-existing forms and when we fill them change them and are changed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-bidart/we-fill-pre-existing-forms-and-when-we-fill-them-change-them-and-are/) [Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-bidart/) > [“up or down from the infinite C E N T E R B R I M M I N G at the winking rim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-bidart/up-or-down-from-the-infinite-c-e-n-t-e-r-b-r-i-m-m-i-n-g-at-the/) [Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-bidart/) > [“I'm not a fool, I knew from the beginning what couldn't happen. What couldn't happen didn't. The enterprise is abandoned. 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