Poetry Makes a Man in Dead Poets Society

Poetry Makes a Man

When people take poetry as more than just words with meanings, but as words to live by and take the poem to heart, the person may and will change by the words they live on. The type of poetry will affect the way the person changes. In the very inspirational movie of Dead Poets Society, Tom Schulman the screen writer, through the character of the visionary Mr. Keating: uses plays and poetry to help the major characters and even some minor characters through their dilemmas and any situations that could have applied to these inspired characters to think freely and take a new road in life. Major characters such as Neil, Todd, Knox, Charlie, and Cameron have taken the influential poetic teachings of Mr. Keating to heart and used the teachings with their free thinking minds to make choices which nobody else can tell them to make.

At the beginning of the movie, the audience knows that Neil is the main character because he is mostly leading the boys. Being that Neil has great self-esteem and no lack of confidence among his peers, the audience could assume that Neil is going to be a static character, but even Neil had his moments. One of Neil’s moments was when Mr. Keating first introduces the poem To the Virgins Who Make Much of Time, he relates the poem to the Latin phrase ‘Carpe diem’, which means ‘seize the day’, Neil is influenced even more so to want to trying acting, which is why he forged the letter to be able to participate in the play. To the Virgins Who Make Much of Time and The Road Not Taken are mostly tied together for the moments that Neil has. Neil decides to bring back the Dead Poets Society, which has a mixture of going against conformity and seizing the day. Then, during the play of Midsummer Night’s...

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...nd the nerdy student used Carpe diem to make a radio and celebrate with their own two person party on the roof. The only other moments that show that the minor characters use poetry to affect their situations are when the students stand on the desk at both the beginning of the movie and the end to show a different perspective on any given situation.

Living by poetry, people can become a better version of themselves, such as the characters in the Dead Poet’s Society did. Dead Poet’s Society can demonstrate to the audience that literature and poetry are more than just words and that people should use them to seize the day, become free thinkers, and take the road in life that people want to. Tom Schulman gave the characters, Mr. Keating, who uses poetry to make the characters stand out on their will in a world where everybody just followed what others told them to do.