Dead Poets Society

Article in Stretton Focus, January 2016

Dead Poets Society is one of Robin Williams’ best films. In it, he plays John Keating, an old boy of Welton Academy, who returns to the school as the new English teacher. His methods are unorthodox. He instructs his pupils to stand on their desks to get a different perspective of the world. He encourages them to develop their own individual style of walking. And he instructs them to tear a chapter out of the set text book because he considers what it has to say about poetry to be offensive! Through all his teaching the pupils are encouraged to develop as individuals and adopt the motto carpe diem or ‘seize the day’. The head is deeply suspicious of Keating’s philosophy and methods.
When he had been a pupil at Welton, Keating had founded the ‘Dead Poets Society’. This was a group of students that met, without the knowledge of the school authorities, in a cave and read poetry. Keating’s new pupils rediscovered it and instituted afresh the night-time poetry readings. The poets may have been dead – Whitman, Shelley, Byron, Tennyson – but the poetry was full of life.
The independent spirit, encouraged by Keating, clashed with the rigid school environment with tragic consequences. Seizing the day has its risks. However, ‘the day’ is all that we have. Yesterday has gone and tomorrow is unknown.
Keating is fired, the defaced textbook is reinstated and normal service is resumed. However, the boys and we have glimpsed the value of life lived in the moment. Life is to be lived to the full: ‘abundant life’, as someone called it!
As Walt Whitman wrote, ”The powerful play goes on and we can contribute a verse”.

Howard Bridge

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.