“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world” Our friend Walt returns once again, as Keating famously writes on the blackboard: This is used to inspire the students, as the poem explores individuality and conformity, and contains a personal favourite quote: “The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse”. The rest of the poem is definitely worthy of a read, just click on the link in the title. Whitman is clearly one of Keating’s favourites, as we find him again quoting this poem in class. In the film, the use of the quote becomes a lot more touching in relation to (spoiler!) the death of Neil, and is undoubtedly the icing on the cake when it comes to an emotional and moving ending. Written by Whitman (or as Todd Anderson prefers- the sweaty toothed madman), this poem was a response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and explores grief and sorrow with Whitman’s usual striking language. Walt WhitmanActing as Mr Keating’s preferred nickname and his first reference in the film, this poem is probably the one that stands out the most. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” Otherwise known as the excerpt that is to be read at the beginning of every Dead Poets Society meeting, this work by Thoreau is part of a larger book which explores the link between transcendentalism, nature, and independence- as Thoreau actually did live in the woods for an amount of time. Henry David Thoreau – Walden (Life in the Woods) Written by 17th Century poet Robert Herrick, it is essentially the poetic translation of Carpe Diem – and contains three more stanzas not included in the film that are definitely worth reading. Robert HerrickThe first stanza of this poem begins with “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”, and is read aloud by Pitts in Mr Keating’s first class to show the transience of life. Robert Herrick – To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Keating spouts great poetry like there’s no tomorrow, but rarely gives us a book to go by if we wish to explore them for ourselves – so here is a list of the most prominent extracts and where they came from, enjoy! However, having re-watched this classic recently, I discovered that it is a gold-mine of all sorts of literary references. O Captain! My Captain!This is one of Mr Keating’s first lines in the film Dead Poets Society, and of course one of the most famous.
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