dead poets society final essay

Essay about Dead Poets Society: Film Analysis

Anyone can prepare themselves to become a stronger writer. It takes practice and self motivation to proceed in the process to get better. It’s not easy, but with determination it can be accomplished. In the film, Dead Poets Society, a new English teacher, John Keating, uses atypical methods of teaching to reach out to his students at an all-boys preparatory academy. Through his lessons, his students learned to overcome the pressures from their families and school and tried to pursue their dreams.

In “Part 3” of Cal Newport’s, How to Become A Straight-A Student, Newport provides tips on how students can prepare themselves to write powerful essays. The film can translate well into the book written by Newport because students can use the themes presented in the movie to help them overcome obstacles in the writing process. Writing has roadblocks like life, we have to conquer it to improve. While the objective from Dead Poet’s Society differs from “Part 3” of Cal Newport’s, How to Become a Straight-A Student, it can be implied that the power to becoming a strong writer is to overcome obstacles.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep an open mind for new ideas, but exploring and discovering different perspectives can help benefit the grade you receive on your paper. It will spark the audience’s interest because of the engagement of a divergent outlook. In the film, Keating says, “I stand upon my desk to remind myself… that we must constantly look at things in a different way. The world looks very different from up here… Just when you think you know something you have to look at it in another way… When you read, don’t just consider what the author thinks, you must consider what you think” (Weir, Dead Poets Society).

He stands on the desk to emphasis how looking at things from another viewpoint can change a person’s perspective. There isn’t only one way to look at ideas and objects. For your paper, try and find a unique perspective of your own and write your thesis. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask. Sometimes a seed is needed to help you get started. Ask for opinions from your friends and professors. As stated in the text, “[They] will help you identify pieces of your structure that are unclear or unnecessary” (Newport 185). A perspective can be compared to a thesis.

It will change and evolve as you continue in the paper-writing process (Newport 157). It’s inevitable, just like how it’s inevitable for perspectives to stay the same. Don’t wait too long to get started, find your own standpoint and just write your thesis. Your thoughts matter. Once a standpoint is found, your voice needs to be heard. Building up the courage to express oneself through words will be beneficial and helpful in the process of becoming a strong writer. In the film, Keating is teaching his students that they do not need to be resigned to what the author thinks.

He tells his students, “You must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it all” (Weir, Dead Poets Society). This quote conveys that it’s best not to wait too long to find the courage to find your own voice and express it. This is similar to “Part 3” when Newport quotes a straight-A student saying, “I don’t believe in sitting in front of a blank screen and just starting to write, hoping it will come to you” (Newport 141). Waiting for ideas to come to you will waste your time.

You have to do whatever it is necessary to get the creative juices flowing. To become a powerful writer, a student must prepare to present their ideas in their own voice. You don’t get better overnight. Newport writes, “the hard truth is that the only way to get better at organizing and presenting your thoughts is through practice” (Newport 175). You get better as you practice. Writing may be intimidating, but taking the time to practice can help you improve. Making the most of the present time can help your paper become extraordinary.

In the film, on the first day of class, Keating takes his students out to have their lesson in the hallway, instructing them to observe the pictures on display because, even though they’ve passed it many times, they haven’t really looked at it. He tells his students, “Seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary” (Weir, Dead Poets Society). His message was to make the most of their lives, leave behind a legacy, because eventually death will come. When you are writing, you should limit your distractions and focus on the task at hand.

Making the most of your time will result in more work being completed. In “Part 3,” Newport states, “The key to effective paper writing is breaking down tasks into manageable units” (Newport 144). He is conveying that breaking down the writing process will be more organized and efficient than rushing to get it done. Once you’re done with the draft of your paper, come back to the thesis. “Don’t be afraid to leave room for ambiguity” (Newport 157). Be vague with the thesis. In life, students may not know how to become extraordinary and it’s okay to not know.

There is a broad list of opportunities. They will get there, but they have to take the steps towards that goal or find a way to get there. Writing a great paper doesn’t come to a person all at once, creating productive steps can help get to that level of work. However, if steps are made and there is no time being spent to complete them, it’s useless. Use your time wisely and your paper can become extraordinary. You don’t need to be a superhero to become a strong writer. The power is already in you, you have to find it and bring it out.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box for ideas, it will help bring attention to your paper. Once your ideas are found, use your own voice to express it in your writing. You don’t have to be resigned to a certain way of thinking. Make sure to spend time on writing your paper. Ideas will only be ideas if you don’t do the work. It may seem impossible to write an amazing paper right off the bat, but make it possible by practicing. You become a strong writer as you overcome the roadblocks. It’s only impossible if you don’t make it possible.

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Movie Reviews

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"Dead Poets Society" is a collection of pious platitudes masquerading as a courageous stand in favor of something: doing your own thing, I think. It's about an inspirational, unconventional English teacher and his students at "the best prep school in America" and how he challenges them to question conventional views by such techniques as standing on their desks. It is, of course, inevitable that the brilliant teacher will eventually be fired from the school, and when his students stood on their desks to protest his dismissal, I was so moved, I wanted to throw up.

Peter Weir's film makes much noise about poetry, and there are brief quotations from Tennyson, Herrick, Whitman and even Vachel Lindsay, as well as a brave excursion into prose that takes us as far as Thoreau's Walden. None of these writers are studied, however, in a spirit that would lend respect to their language; they're simply plundered for slogans to exort the students toward more personal freedom. At the end of a great teacher's course in poetry, the students would love poetry; at the end of this teacher's semester, all they really love is the teacher.

The movie stars Robin Williams as the mercurial John Keating, teacher of English at the exclusive Welton Academy in Vermont. The performance is a delicate balancing act between restraint and schtick.

For much of the time, Williams does a good job of playing an intelligent, quick-witted, well-read young man. But then there are scenes in which his stage persona punctures the character - as when he does impressions of Marlon Brando and John Wayne doing Shakespeare.

There is also a curious lack of depth to his character compared with such other great movie teachers as Miss Jean Brodie and Professor Kingsfield. Keating is more of a plot device than a human being.

The story is also old stuff, recycled out of the novel and movie " A Separate Peace " and other stories in which the good die young and the old simmer in their neurotic and hateful repressions. The key conflict in the movie is between Neil ( Robert Sean Leonard ), a student who dreams of being an actor, and his father ( Kurtwood Smith ), who orders his son to become a doctor and forbids him to go onstage. The father is a strict, unyielding taskmaster, and the son, lacking the will to defy him, kills himself. His death would have had a greater impact for me if it had seemed like a spontaneous human cry of despair, rather than like a meticulously written and photographed set piece.

Other elements in the movie also seem to have been chosen for their place in the artificial jigsaw puzzle. A teenage romance between one of the Welton students and a local girl is given so little screen time, so arbitrarily, that it seems like a distraction. And I squirmed through the meetings of the "Dead Poets Society," a self-consciously bohemian group of students who hold secret meetings in the dead of night in a cave near the campus.

The society was founded by Keating when he was an undergraduate, but in its reincarnate form it never generates any sense of mystery, rebellion or daring. The society's meetings have been badly written and are dramatically shapeless, featuring a dance line to Lindsay's "The Congo" and various attempts to impress girls with random lines of poetry. The movie is set in 1959, but none of these would-be bohemians have heard of Kerouac, Ginsberg or indeed of the beatnik movement.

One scene in particular indicates the distance between the movie's manipulative instincts and what it claims to be about. When Keating is being railroaded by the school administration (which makes him the scapegoat for his student's suicide), one of the students acts as a fink and tells the old fogies what they want to hear. Later, confronted by his peers, he makes a hateful speech of which not one word is plausible except as an awkward attempt to supply him with a villain's dialogue. Then one of the other boys hits him in the jaw, to great applause from the audience. The whole scene is utterly false and seems to exist only so that the violence can resolve a situation that the screenplay is otherwise unwilling to handle.

"Dead Poets Society" is not the worst of the countless recent movies about good kids and hidebound, authoritatian older people. It may, however, be the most shameless in its attempt to pander to an adolescent audience. The movie pays lip service to qualities and values that, on the evidence of the screenplay itself, it is cheerfully willing to abandon. If you are going to evoke Henry David Thoreau as the patron saint of your movie, then you had better make a movie he would have admired. Here is one of my favorite sentences from Thoreau's Walden, which I recommend for serious study by the authors of this film: " . . . instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them." Think about it.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

130 minutes

Robert Sean Leonard as Neil Perry

Josh Charles as Knox Overstreet

Dylan Kussman as Richard Cameron

Ethan Hawke as Todd Anderson

Robin Williams as John Keating

Gale Hansen as Charlie Dalton

Produced by

• Tony Thomas
• Steven Haft
• Paul Junger Witt
• Maurice Jarre
• William Anderson

Directed by

• Tom Schulman

Photography by

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Dead Poets Society Ending Explained: The Powerful Play Goes On

"Dead Poets Society" is one of a choice number of films that's defined almost entirely by its ending . That iconic final scene isn't easy to forget, even for those who watched the film for the first time in 10th grade English class or some such equivalent. The image of once-timid prep school boys standing atop their desks to pay tribute to their recently-fired English teacher, Mr. Keating (Robin Williams), is meant to invoke a sense of purpose. It's meant to stir up your emotions and stay with you for the rest of your life, even as the broad strokes of the film eventually fade into hazy memory. Without that "O, Captain, my Captain" moment, "Dead Poets Society" might have been a very different film . But it's not the only one that shaped the film into the classic it became.

Like with all good stories, the ending is merely a culmination of moments. It only packs such a punch because of everything that had to happen before it, and as pedestrian as the events of "Dead Poets Society" may seem — at least, leading up to the shocking suicide in the final act — a lot really does happen, if only beneath the surface. It makes "Dead Poets Society" so much more than a quintessential high school movie , including a commentary on a major societal shift, as well as the cycle of abuse perpetuated by a culture of toxic masculinity.

Words and ideas can change the world

Peter Weir's 1989 film takes place at Welton, a prestigious, all-boys boarding school with strict traditions and even stricter staff. The story begins as the class of 1959 descends onto campus for the fall semester. With the new academic year also comes a brand new teacher, Keating ( a career-best Robin Williams ), who makes quick work of radicalizing his first class of prospective lawyers and doctors. Keating himself once attended "Hell-ton," so he understands the trappings of its suffocating curriculum all too well. He wants these boys to find their voices while they're young. The longer they allow the toxic culture at Welton to suppress their spirits, the harder it will be for them to think for themselves when they reach adulthood.

Keating's unorthodox methods encourage the rebirth of his unofficial, one-time club: the titular Dead Poets Society. Keating and his peers first founded the group to escape the monotony of their day-to-day academia, to "suck the marrow out of life." It's a principle that makes a big impression on certain members of his class, namely Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), his roommate Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), and friends Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen), Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) and Steven Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero).

The newly founded Dead Poets Society adopts Keating's mantra, "carpe diem," in ways that only teenage boys can. Charlie is arguably Keating's most passionate disciple, staging elaborate campaigns to bring female students to Welton and even adopting a new moniker, Nuwanda. Knox uses the well-known power of poetry to win over a girl at a neighboring school. And then there's Neil, who seems like the last person in need of Keating's help, at least on the surface. Deep down though, the exact opposite is true: while he's a talented student and a natural-born leader, he frequently has to set aside his personal aspirations and do what his overbearing father (Kurtwood Smith) tells him.

In normal circumstances, Neil would concede to his dad without question. Until he graduates from Welton, then college and ( eventually ) medical school, his life is not his own. It's only after Keating's lessons start to sink in that Neil realizes he can live a different way, without submitting to his dad. He auditions for a local production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in an effort to take control of his life again. The only problem: he does so behind his father's back, and it backfires spectacularly when he discovers the truth and demands Neil drop out of the production.

It's this conflict that demonstrates Neil's half-formed approach to Keating's philosophy. Like other members of the Dead Poets Society, he largely fails to absorb the true essence of "carpe diem." Honoring your inner truth and shunting the status quo are both vital to seizing the day, but not without an understanding of the consequences. "There's a time for daring," Keating tells his class, "and there's a time for caution. A wise man understands which is called for."

If we shadows have offended...

Keating tries to encourage temperance and patience in his students, especially when Neil comes to him with his dilemma. In order for Neil to actually find the freedom he's been searching for, Keating says, he has to confront his father. Even if Mr. Perry can't empathize with his son, it isn't the end of the world. His "indentured servitude" won't last forever: soon he'll be free to star in whatever play he likes. It's a nice sentiment, but a totally foreign concept for Neil, who can't see beyond his own suffocating reality. He feels trapped no matter what he does, and that feeling only increases his desperation to break free.

This is, ironically, what makes Todd's role in the story so important. He's Neil's foil in every way, as both characters represent the different ways that shame can manifest within a person. Todd's shame keeps him putting his ideas and emotions out into the world. "Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing," Keating very astutely observes. And Neil, for all his inner fire, is made to feel the same from his father.

Despite his projected confidence, Neil also struggles to prove his worth — he's just much better at hiding it. He is, as Keating later points out, a very talented actor. He's been acting his whole life, playing the part of the dutiful son, the Mr. Future Doctor of his dad's dreams. But after getting a taste of freedom, he realizes he can't keep acting any longer, especially not with the threat of military school — and 10 more years in "service" to his dad — looming over his head.

A quiet flame

After his final confrontation with Mr. Perry, Neil can only see one way to escape, to finally be free on his own terms. His suicide understandably sends shockwaves through Welton, and Headmaster Nolan (Norman Lloyd) works quickly to restore "order" in the wake of the tragedy. He implicates Keating in Neil's death, and threatens the remaining Society members with expulsion if they don't corroborate his story.

With Charlie expelled, Keating sacked, and Nolan poised to replace him as English teacher, the status quo is all but restored — and it's here that the focus shifts almost entirely to Todd. Out of everyone in the Dead Poets Society, he was the most resistant  to Keating's teachings. Of all his friends, he was most likely to shrink away from a challenge. It's not until he's presented with the most difficult challenge of all — to honor truth, consequence be damned — that he's able to demonstrate a complete understanding of "carpe diem."

Keating sees his class for the last time when he returns to pick up the last of his belongings, and there, Todd finds the courage to come clean about Nolan's scheme. What happens next — that aforementioned "O Captain, my Captain" moment — is a symbol of the effect that Keating had on his students, Todd especially. He can't take back what he did (and he may very well face expulsion for what he does after) but the principles he's learned have lit a fire within him, and it won't be an easy one to snuff out.

O Captain, My Captain

"Dead Poets Society" contends with a tricky legacy today. Its status as a pop culture staple makes it overrated in some circles, and its focus on the white male elite — tragic as their individuals upbringings are — raises concerns about its lack of diversity . But these critiques come from examining the film through a modern lens. It's easy to dismiss the film for its female representation (or lack thereof), to pick at its one-note antagonists. But it's also important to keep the setting in perspective. "Dead Poets" takes place in the late '50s, when women were discouraged from pursuing higher education, and schools in general were less integrated. Post-War America had only just begun to move away from conservatism and embrace romanticism . It was a different time, and sure, most of the characters in the film are either archetypes or ciphers — but perhaps that's why it's still so evocative today.

"Dead Poets" deals with a period of time when most of us are trying to discover who we are. Life is hard, our emotions are overwhelming, and every setback feels like the end of the world. The film may feel cringey or old-fashioned now, but it's only because we've since learned to contextualize the suffocating bind of adolescence, or family drama, or unrequited high school love. If we try, we can probably still remember how it felt to hear Keating's mantra for the first time, or how it felt when our own teachers recognized greatness in us. "Dead Poets" has captured that feeling in a bottle. It serves as a reminder of some of Keating's best advice to his students (lifted from Whitman, of course): "That life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

Dead Poets Society

By peter weir.

• Dead Poets Society Summary

In 1959, shy Todd Anderson begins his senior year of high school at elite boarding school Welton Academy, a prep school in the Northeastern United States. One of the most promising students at Welton, Neil Perry , is assigned as Todd's roommate and Todd is quickly initiated into Perry's circle of friends, including mischievous Charlie Dalton , romantic Knox Overstreet , high-flying overachiever Richard Cameron and best friends Gerard Pitts and Steven Meeks. On the first day of classes they are surprised to find that their new English teacher, Mr. Keating , is both entertaining and unorthodox, himself a Welton alumnus whose innovation in the classroom brings English class alive. He encourages his students to make their lives extraordinary and summarizes this sentiment with extorting them in Latin "carpe diem" (seize the day). Unfortunately this is in direct contrast to the ethos of the school where living a traditional and conformist life is preferred to living an extraordinary one.

John Keating's inspirational classes also include standing on his desk at the front of the classroom as an illustration to his students that they should try to look at life from a different perspective, and telling them to rip out the introduction section of their poetry books which explains a mathematical formula used to rate poetry. He also encourages them to create their own style of walking across the courtyard to encourage them to be individuals. Individuality is the antithesis of Welton's ethos, and not surprisingly, his teaching methods come to the attention of Gale Nolan, the strict and archaic headmaster.

Neil Perry discovers that Mr. Keating was once a member of the secret and unsanctioned "Dead Poets' Society" when he was a student at Welton. Neil restarts the club and each night he and his friends leave campus without permission and go to a cave where they read poetry, and write and recite their own compositions as well. As the school year goes on, Mr. Keating's classes and their involvement with the Club continue to inspire them to live life on their own terms; Knox Overstreet pursues Chris Noel, a girl who is dating a football player and whose family is friends with his. Neil Perry discovers a passion for acting and wins the lead role in a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream , despite the fact that his cold and domineering father wants him to attend medical school not pursue a carter in the theater. Mr. Keating also helps Todd come out of his shell and takes him through an exercise in self-expression to help him realize his potential. The exercise culminates with Todd spontaneously composing a poem in front of the class.

Unfortunately, Charlie Dalton's inspiration leads him to go too far, and he publishes an article in the school newspaper under the byline of the Dead Poets Society , demanding that girls be accepted to Welton. Headmaster Nolan uses corporal punishment to try to force Charlie to tell him who else is a member of the club, but he refuses. Nolan also warns Keating that he must discourage his students from questioning authority or else face consequences of his own.

Neil's father discovers he is performing in the play and demands that he quit on the eve of his first performance. Neil is devastated and turns to Keating for advice; his teacher advises him to stand his ground and stand up to his father to demonstrate his seriousness about acting. The following day Keating asks if he has spoken to his father and Neil lies, saying that he had, and that he will be permitted to pursue an acting career provided his schoolwork does not suffer. The lie is discovered when Neil's father unexpectedly appears at the performance, taking his son home and then forcing him to go to military school so that he can go to Harvard and study medicine. Terrified of his father and at a loss for what to do, Neil commits suicide.

Gale Nolan, the headmaster, begins an investigation into the suicide at the request of the Perry family. Attempting to escape punishment for his own membership in the Dead Poet's Society, Richard Cameron tells Nolan that Neil's death is entirely Keating's fault. He names Overstreet, Meeks, Pitts, Anderson, Dalton and Perry as his fellow members. Charlie confronts him, but Cameron urges the others to put the blame on Mr. Keating. Charlie refuses and punches Cameron, which causes him to be expelled. Each of the boys is called to Nolan's office to sign a letter attesting that Cameron's version of events is true. When it is Todd's turn he does not want to sign but does so when he sees that the others have signed already.

Keating is fired and Nolan takes over teaching his class. Keating interrupts class to collect some personal possessions from his desk, and before he leaves Todd stands on his desk and salutes Keating with the words "Captain! My Captain!" Knox, Steven, Gerard and over half the class does the same. Todd shouts that they were forced to sign the letter and that Neil's death was not his fault. Deeply touched by this gesture, Keating thanks them.

Dead Poets Society Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Dead Poets Society is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What’s the theme of dead poets society rip it out

Do you mean the scene where Keeting asks his class to rip out the Pritchard text? He wants them to avoid conformity by ripping a text that treats poetry like a math equation.

Explore Keating's influence on his students and how his encouragement of originality and "carpe diem" affect them.

I can't write your essay for you but can make a general comment. One of Keating’s main, overarching lessons for the boys is the idea of “seizing the day”—that is, making the most of the time they have now and taking advantage of the opportunities...

According to Pitts, all of the girls go for “jerks”. Do you agree with his assessment? Why or why not?

Well, this is a pretty subjective answer from personal experience. Many many years ago I was captain of the chess team in high school. Lets just say girls were not clamouring to wear my jacket. The hockey players,they used to throw pucks at our...

Study Guide for Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society study guide contains a biography of director Peter Weir, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Dead Poets Society
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the film Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir.

• Authority Against Individualism: Dead Poets Society and The Rabbits
• Dead Poets Society: The Powerful Thought of Individuality
• Identity in Dead Poets Society and Frost's Poetry
• Exploring Transitions: Educating Rita and Dead Poets Society

Wikipedia Entries for Dead Poets Society

• Introduction

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Dead Poets Society

• Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
• Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His roommate, Neil Perry, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating, their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each does so in his own way, and is changed for life. — Liz Jordan <[email protected]>
• A new English teacher, John Keating, is introduced to an all-boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach out to his students, who face enormous pressures from their parents and the school. With Keating's help, students Neil Perry, Todd Anderson and others learn to break out of their shells, pursue their dreams and seize the day. — Jwelch5742
• Vermont, New England, 1959. The students at Welton Academy have been trained for generations to lead lives of conformity and tradition--until charismatic new professor John Keating sets foot in the institution, motivating them to think for themselves, live life to the fullest, and "Carpe Diem". As a result of his unconventional approach, inspirational Keating awakens the students' spirits, encourages them to be exceptional individuals, and challenges them to achieve their full potential. However, when tragedy strikes the school, drawing the wrath of a disapproving faculty, Keating and his boys will find themselves at loggerheads with the school's officials, the parents, and the system. — Nick Riganas
• New England, the late 1950s. Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), a lonely and painfully shy teenager, who is under pressure by his stern parents because he must live up to his older brother's reputation to attend Yale and become a lawyer, arrives for the new semester at the Welton Academy for boys -- Todd's brother also attended Welton and was a popular and well-regarded student there. This semester begins during an orientation gathering with a speech given by the stern Headmaster Nolan (Norman Lloyd), who states the academy's four pillars: Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. Todd meets Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) a friendly and ambitious student whom becomes his dorm roommate. Later in his dorm, Neil is ordered by his grumpy and domineering father (Kurtwood Smith) to drop his involvement with the school annual in order to maintain good grades so the boy may become a doctor much as he has done. Neil is under pressure from his stern father's will. Also, Mr. Perry tells Neil that Mrs. Perry also wants him to become a doctor, which further worries the boy. A little later, Todd tells Neil that he is in a similar situation with his parents involving his older brother who also attended Welton a few years ago, graduated, and attended Yale Law School and became a lawyer and his parents want the exact same thing for him. But Todd does not have the courage to tell his parents that he instead wants to be a writer, not a lawyer. During the first day of classes Todd and Neil experience the various teaching methods which include speeches by the trig teacher, as well as the Latin teacher, and the chemistry teacher who states that "all 20 questions at the end of the first chapter are due tomorrow". In stark contrast to these orthodox teaching methods, the guys see a different side of the school when they attend English class taught by the newly arrived (and liberal-minded) Mr. Keating (Robin Williams), whom they met briefly during the orientation -- Keating tells his class he was also a student at "Helton" (as the students secretly refer to the institution) himself many years ago. Keating enters his class smiling and whistling the 1812 Overture, and he first takes the boys out in the hallway to the school's displays cases containing photos and artifacts of the school's sports achievements. He tells them that they all have the potential to become powerful individuals, and they are responsible for what their futures will hold. These two actions show his difference from the other teachers because no other teacher would commit the actions he does. Also, he tells the boys they may call him "Oh Captain, my Captain", (the title of a poem by Walt Whitman about Abraham Lincoln) if they dare. These examples of Mr. Keating's teachings show the boys how to think for themselves. Mr. Keating then tells the boys "Carpe Diem", which is Latin for "seize the day". In addition to Todd and Neil, a small group of other students whom include the lovesick Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles), the flip Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen), the pragmatic Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), liberal Steven Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero) and the moderate Gerard Pitts (James Waterston), also react to the first day's lesson with comments from "that was weird" to "neat". Cameron asks if anything Keating told them will be on a future test and the boys respond with mild scorn. The next day Keating starts the class with a traditional teaching approach by having Neil read out loud the introduction to their poetry textbook, which describes how to rate the quality of poetry according to mathematical plotting. Keating finds such mathematical criticism ridiculous and instructs his pupils to rip out the essay which is one of three ways that he demonstrates freedom of expression and non-conformity. When some students hesitate, he tells them "this is not the Bible. This is a battle, a war. You will have to learn to think for yourselves." A few days later, Knox Overstreet is asked to attend a dinner party at the Danburry household, friends of his parents. When he arrives, a beautiful girl answers the doorbell and intently captures his attention. Later, he learns that the girl, Christine Noel, is dating Chet Danburry, but does not give up the hope of dating her. One day, Neil finds an old Welton yearbook with Mr. Keating in it. After seeing that Mr. Keating listed "Dead Poets Society" as one of his activities at the school, the boys ask Mr. Keating what this was. He replies that the DPS was a secret club dedicated to taking the meaning out of life. To do so, the members would sit in a cave near a certain pond less then a mile from school grounds and recite poetry, philosophically drawing life lessons from it to enhance their lives and appreciation of literature. With this new idea in their head from asking Mr. Keating what the DPS was, Neil and the boys decide to start up the DPS once again. While coming inside after recess, Neil convinces the boys to join the DPS and meet at midnight by the creek to start their first meeting. Todd tells them that he will come along to the meeting as long as he does not have to read any poetry. When they arrive at the cave, the boys hold their first meeting. Knox shows up so that he can build confidence, like learning pretty poetry, to swoon Christine. The boys begin to learn how rhythm and language in poetry can enhance their own learning and life experience. During their next poetry class, Mr. Keating makes the boys stand on his desk to see the world from a different perspective, another way he demonstrates non-conformity and freedom. At the end of class, Mr. Keating orders the boys to write an original poem for homework which will be read aloud during Monday's class. As he leaves the room, Keating singles out Todd and tells him he knows such an assignment frightens him. Keating's unorthodox teaching methods soon circulate quietly among the other teachers who scorn his liberal and idealist methods. During dinner, the Latin teacher tells Keating, "you are taking a big risk in making your students think they are artists". Keating replies: "I'm only trying to make them free thinkers". The Latin teacher, a reader of the Realist literature movement, rebukes him by saying, "free thinkers at age seventeen?", reciting some poetry from a Realist poet to emphasize his point. Keating recites another line "It is only in their minds that men can truly be free. T'was always thus, and always thus shall be." When the professor asks him if that passage belongs to a Realist poet, Keating smiles, telling him he'd made it up on the spot. Neil attempts to seize the day by trying out for a part in the play 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' the school is putting on -- such an act is done in full defiance of his father's wishes. Meanwhile, Knox goes to a nearby public high school football game and sees Christine in the arms of Chet, who is a football player at that school. Back in English class, Mr. Keating has the boys kick soccer balls while yelling poetry aloud, the final way that he demonstrates freedom and non-conformity. Then, Neil receives a letter that says he got the part of Puck in the play. Now he must forge a letter of permission to the headmaster and Mr. Perry, along with their signature of approval. The next day in class, Mr. Keating tells Todd to stand up and recite his poem. When Todd tells his teacher that he did not write a poem, Mr. Keating tells the boy to make one up right now on the spur of the moment, taking him to the front of the room. Todd's new poem is about a portrait of Walt Whitman on the wall, and Mr. Keating seems to have an astounding affect on Todd. Todd improvises with Keating's aggressive but kind coaching and he refers to Whitman as the "snaggly-toothed madman." The rest of the class, including one of the more cynical students applaud Todd's efforts. By pulling the boy out of his seat in front of the class and create his own poem, Mr. Keating successfully reaches out to Todd and builds his confidence. That night, the boys meet at the cave to hold another DPS meeting, and afterwords Knox gets the courage to phone Christine, who invites him to a party at the Danburry home. The following day, Mr. Keating teaches tells the boys not to conform, and Todd gets the same desk pen set from his parents that they got him last year for his birthday. Neil finds Todd sitting alone and disappointed and boosts his roommate's confidence by telling him that he should take the desk set and throw it to see how aerodynamic it is. Todd's mood is instantly improved. When Knox goes to Christine's party that night, he's asked by several of the local high school's football players to join them in a toast to his brother, a football hero, despite Knox' insistence he's not their guy. Later, he becomes drunk and finds himself sitting next to a mostly unconscious Christine on the couch. He recalls Keating's words "carpe Diem" and kisses her, only to be caught by Chet, who punches him out. Though Christine comes to his aid, Knox leaves the party. The day after the DPS meeting, which is also attended by some girls Charlie invited, Dalton writes a joking and anonymous letter on behalf of the DPS to the school asking if girls may be admitted to Welton Academy. Charlie also takes the bold but foolish step of signing the letter from the DPS. During a hastily arranged school meeting which addresses this letter, a phone is heard ringing. Charlie pulls out a hidden phone, answers it and says the call is from "God" and that God wants girls to attend Welton. The school's headmaster holds a private meeting with Charlie, demanding to know who is in the DPS. Charlie refuses and the headmaster paddles him harshly. The headmaster later talks to Keating, telling him he is aware of Keating's unorthodox teaching methods and that encouragement of free-thinking among the students is dangerous. Keating later talks to Charlie and the boys, telling the recovering Charlie that "sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone." In the newer era of the school, where discipline is much harsher, pranks like Charlie's can have the effect of hurting a student's future rather than making them a school legend. When Neil's father arrives at Welton on an unexpected visit, he scolds Neil for joining the play and orders him to quit. Neil tells Mr. Keating about the incident, and that his father won't allow Neil to act. To this, Mr. Keating suggests that Neil tell his father how the boy truly feels. Neil does, but his bossy and stubborn father continues to refuse to let him partake in the play and tells Neil that he must focus all his energy on studying to become a doctor. A few days later, Neil lies to Mr. Keating and tells him that his father allowed him to continue with the play. When Knox goes to Christine's high school, he embarrasses her in class by giving her flowers and reciting poetry. Christine goes to Welton where she angrily tells Knox that his actions embarrassed her in front of her classmates. Knox apologizes and asks Christine if she would go to Neil's play with him. Christine is again embarrassed, but flattered by the attention Knox displays, accepts his offer as a date. At the theatre, Neil gives a great performance as Puck. As he is about to give Puck's closing monologue, Neil spots his father looking stern and angry from the back but receives a standing ovation. Neil is angrily driven home by his father, who also tells Keating to stay away from his son. While at home, Mr. Perry tells Neil that in retaliation for his defiance, he will pull Neil out of Welton and forcibly enroll him in Braden Military School to prepare him for Harvard University and a career in medicine. Unable to cope with the future that awaits him or make his stern and narrow-minded father understand his emotions, Neil commits suicide by shooting himself with his father's gun. The next day in school, the boys are told of Neil's suicide and in separate meetings, each is questioned about the DPS after Cameron reveals the club's secrets to the headmaster. Dalton is expelled from the Welton Academy when he punches Cameron for betraying them. Cameron's defense of his actions is that they can all save their respective futures at the school if they cooperate, even if they can't keep Keating from being fired. When Todd is called to Nolan's office, where his parents are waiting, Nolan forces Todd to admit to being a member of the Dead Poets Society, and tries to make him sign a document blaming Keating for abusing his authority, inciting the boys to restart the Dead Poets Society, and encouraging Neil to flout his father's authority. Todd sees Richard's, Knox's, Steven's and Gerald's signatures already on the document. At first, Todd refuses to sign, but when Nolan threatens to expel him and his equally stern parents threaten to disown him should he be kicked out of school, the painfully shy Todd does not have the nerve to argue with any of them and signs the paper. Keating is fired from Welton and is forced to leave without any severance pay or letter of recommendation to teach at any other public or private school in the state. Although the other teachers at Welton have disapproved of his teaching methods, most of them are somewhat upset to see the likable and friendly Keating leave The next day, Headmaster Nolan arrives at English class where he tells the students that he is their new teacher until a substitute will arrive to replace him. The shy and afraid Todd cannot respond when asked what the boys have done in the class so far, so Nolan asks Cameron. He tells the teacher that the class thoroughly covered poetry, but skipped over Realism. The headmaster tells them they will start over and to read the introduction to their textbook, but it is ripped out, so he gives Cameron the teacher's book to read from. Just then, Mr. Keating enters the room to collect a few of his papers before he leaves. Todd reveals to Keating that he and the other students were intimidated into signing the confession. Keating tells Todd that he already knows. Nolan orders Todd to be quiet and demands that Keating leave, threatening any other student who speaks up with expulsion. As Keating is about to exit the classroom, Todd finally breaks through his cowardice and self-pity and calls out: "O Captain! My Captain!" and then stands on top of his desk and faces Keating, giving him a farewell salute. Nolan immediately yells at Todd to sit down or face expulsion. In what is probably the movie's most touching and emotionally powerful scene, one by one, Knox, Steven, Gerard, and all of the members of the Dead Poets Society, except for Cameron and a few other students, climb onto their desks and face Keating to salute their former teacher. Knowing they are too many for the school to expel en masse quietly, they remain standing on their desks despite Nolan's orders for them to sit back down until he gives up and slumps against the teacher's desk, angry and emotionally defeated. Seeing that his work at the school had not been in vain, a visibly touched Keating says: "Thank you, boys. Thank you." With Todd and the other the students looking on, Keating then happily leaves the classroom with tears in his eyes, and walks out of the school for good.

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Dead Poets Society

53 pages • 1 hour read

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Discussion Questions

Describe Todd Anderson’s character arc as it relates to the theme of finding your voice . In what ways does Mr. Keating help him? In what ways does Neil?

Compare and contrast the characters of Charlie and Cameron. Be sure to track their growth or regression throughout the novel and focus on their relationship to the rules of Welton.

In Dead Poets Society , Welton is a symbol for the isolation that comes along with striving to maintain certain traditions and standards. Pick one character that experiences isolation in the novel and explain how they escape (or don’t escape) that feeling of loneliness.

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Mortality & death, valentine's day reads: the theme of love.

Dead Poets Society

N. h. kleinbaum, everything you need for every book you read., todd anderson quotes in dead poets society.

Sixteen-year-old Todd Anderson, one of the few students not wearing the school blazer, hesitated as the boys around him rose to their feet. His mother nudged him up. His face was drawn and unhappy, his eyes dark with anger. He watched silently as the boys around him shouted in unison, “Tradition! Honor! Discipline! Excellence!”

As the other boys stared at him, Todd fought back tears. “You'll like soccer here, Anderson. All right, boys. Dismissed.”

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The Main Messages in The Film Dead Poets Society

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Published: Oct 2, 2020

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