Dead Poets Society

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Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 film which tells the story of an English teacher at a 1959 boys' preschool, which inspires his students to overcome their reluctance to make changes in their lives and stirs up their interests in poetry and literature.

Carpe Diem

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

　　 Henry David Thoreau: Walden

From the」 whisper」 of the fertilizer of daffodil I would boldly say that Carpe Diem is the main theme in the movie, where Mr. Keating told those kids at the very beginning. Since life is short, and we could only live once, which gives everyday and even every second its own meaning and specialty. Sometimes I may ask this question, just like what I am asking myself now, what is the purpose of life? Is the meaning of my life to write this essay?

Life is not just only "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die", what makes human differ from animals is that we are capable to invent or create things to survive, which makes the human world more meaningful. However, at the same time, a lot of us are trapped from what we had build up, spending their whole life turning round and round around those meaningless devices. So we should live the most of ourselves, seize the day, and suck the marrow out of life.

Love

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
　 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
　　Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
　　And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
　　Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
　　And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
　　And every fair from fair sometime declines,
　　By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
　　But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
　　Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
　　Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
　　When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
　　So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
　　So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
        
                                        　 威廉 Shakespeare: Sonnet 18

The love in the movie is not flirting between Dalton and these two chicks with heavy make up, still less the jeer when they saw Dalton’s picture of a naked woman. Maybe it could be counted that the sparkles between Knox and Christ. Why I say maybe, because Christ was actually taken, however, in some way, it just explains better what Carpe Diem is.
The love in the movie is about friendship and profound affections between teachers and students.

Still remember the first time they show up, they made fun about the 4 pillar of Helton；Travesty, Decadence, Excrement, and Horror. Can』t forget how many laughers left in their dorm room, how many wonderful poems were still lingering in that dark Indian cave.

About Mr. Keating, no doubt, he is beloved by all. He taught them everything he knew, for example, 「Don』t make yourself ordinary」, or how to 「woo a woman」, or 「words and ideas can change the world」. He wanted his students to experience the beauty in his eyes, the scent of smell, the touch of love. Together, they play football on the playground and march on the balcony. They become the one, integrated.


Choice
　　
　　Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
　　And sorry I could not travel both
　　And be one traveler, long I stood
　　And looked down one as far as I could
　　To where it bent in the undergrowth;
　　
　　Then took the other, as just as fair,
　　And having perhaps the better claim;
　　Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
　　Though as for that, the passing there
　　Had worn them really about the same,
　　
　　And both that morning equally lay
　　In leaves no step had trodden black.
　　Oh, I kept the first for another day!
　　Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
　　I doubted if I should ever come back.
　　I shall be telling this with a sigh
　　Somewhere ages and ages hence;
　　Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I—
　　I took the less traveled by,
　　And that has made all the difference.
　　
                                        Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken

It seems like the 19th century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school, maybe, but we don』t read and write poetry because it is cute, we read and write poetry because we r member of human race, and the human race is filled with passion, medicine, law, business, engineering, those are noble suits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love those are what we stay life for. We obviously see Mr. Keating’s choice.

Neil committed suicide for he would be dead even if he were still alive. He made his choice; Dalton kept his loyalty to Mr. Keating or showed his respect to Neil, not signing that piece of paper, although he would be expired, we see his choice. Todd stood up on his desk, half of the students following him, to show his respects to Mr. Keating. That is Todd who dared not to read his own poem in front of the class, but at last due to his behave keep the last pride and glory of Mr. Keating. And we see his change, his growth.


Transcendentalism

Everyday in our lives, we have the same routine to our day, mostly during the weekday, but we follow a similar schedule everyday nevertheless. We 「keep pace」 with others as they go about doing their own activities. Transcendentalism is all about individuality and nonconformist ideas. When we listen to this quote, we can simply see a line of people marching, in a single file line, to the same beat, walking the same steps, everything is exactly the same. While this could be beneficial in certain situations, transcendentalism ideals are the exact opposite and expressed in this quote. A person might have a different walk about them, 「perhaps it is because he hears his own drummer」. Again, we can picture this as a single person, taking individuality, one of the biggest and main principles of the transcendentalism era, and applying it.

This person would break out of line and march 「to the music which he hears」. He is his own individual, one of the biggest goals in transcendentalism. That’s the literal meaning, but as it applies to real life, it could be interpreted that some people might have a different outlook on life, whether it’s different values, different goals, different ways to do things, different thoughts, any difference at all, and that these outlooks should be respected, no matter how diverse or how 「far away」, as long as these differences don』t go against humankind in general. For example, if someone thought that everyone else should die except him, well frankly, that’s just going way out there and maybe an idea like that shouldn』t be respected. But, individualism should be accepted, that all people differ from each other and because of that, they should not try to be more alike each other.

http://cinemaroll.com/drama/transcendentalism-and-dead-poets-society/

Romanism vs. Realism, or Non- Conformism vs. Conformism

This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls，Armies of academics going forward measuring poetry
……
Now in my class, you will learn o think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language.
No matter what anybody tells you, that you are here, that life exists, and identity

                                                                                 Mr. Keating

The theme of conformity is strongly highlighted throughout the film. This obvious notion is apparent through both the enhancement of conformity and breaking free of it. The students in this film also aim to free themselves of the grasps of traditional criterions. 　　　Conformity and denying individuality are evident in Welton Academy; The school administration operated Welton on a concept of conformity: students should all obey the set rules and established boundaries and standards. The four pillars of the school: Tradition, Discipline, Excellence and Honour. The principal, Mr. Nolan, announces Welton’s superb reputation along with the great expectations by declaring the achievements of the alumni; underlying the future path that all students should follow despite their own different dreams. However, Mr. Keating’s teaching method was criticized as 『unorthodox』 – Welton treasured not free thinking, but the Empty Vessel theory. What Welton values are obedient students acting accordingly to the prevailing conventions of the school.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

What will we do when the pursuits of dream collide with reality? Neil committed suicide for he would be dead even though he were still alive. I feel like being a production in the manufacturing line of school, and society is the consumer? Students have the same text books, we share the same teachers, the schools convey us the same convention and even the country are waving the flag of education. But what is education? The education nowadays are not try to make people to change the world, nevertheless make people accustomed to be changed by the world.

I could never really understand that why we all want to or have to being good, earning a lot money, raising our social states, finding a rich handsome husband or wife? Why we have so many pursuits, and is that all life about? Reality is necessity

Nwanda

He rings a phone during the assembly and tells the principal that there is a call for him, from God saying that they should also have girls in their school.