“Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.”
– Robert Herrick, ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’
It’s the 20th century, and the boys of the fictional Welton Academy are gearing up for the new school year. On their backs they carry their textbooks — law, arithmetics, medicine — and their parents’ looming reminders: don’t mess this up.
It is now the 21st century, and students all around the world are getting ready. It’s a never-ending preparation for results. Study well, pick a promising major, go to university, study more, and hope that you will become someone significant.
It’s impossible not to draw the connection between the 1989 coming-of-age film Dead Poets Society, its penetrating message, and the decline of free-thinking in the minds of students today as academic pressure continues to mount.
On the surface, Dead Poets Society may seem to be nothing but a coming-of-age story about a group of rebellious, yet clever boys who band together to navigate life in an academically demanding boarding school. However, the 1989 film directed by Peter Weir is a lot more than just student life. Its realistic themes of self-discovery and independence, as well as the inevitable clash between romanticism and realism, mirror the toxic academic stress of students today as they struggle to find their true selves. The plot goes as follows:
The opening scene, set on the first day of a new year at Welton Academy, introduces the boys, as well as the four pillars they are obliged to live by – tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. The Welton boys are taught how to live in a no-nonsense society, and their prestigious academy – dubbed by them as “Hellton” – sucks all the marrow out of life. Immediately, students can relate to the rigorous classes the boys have to take, which are also partnered with demanding extracurriculars that hardly give them any room to breathe. It’s suffocating to have to adhere to this esteemed tradition, and the boys are just itching for a way to break off of their monotonous lives. That wish is fulfilled unexpectedly when the boys are introduced to their new English teacher.
The eccentric Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams, starts his very first class telling his students (while explaining the motivation behind Herrick’s famed poem) this: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Why does the writer use these lines? / Because we are food for worms lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die.”
Mr. Keating uses Herrick’s poem as a catalyst to urge the boys to make the most out of each and every day, so that when it is ultimately their time to go, they will have no regrets. Carpe diem, he says, seize the day – make your lives extraordinary. It’s unorthodox, it’s startling, and the boys leave the class dumbfounded, but Mr. Keating’s words, so unlike the teachings the boys have absorbed their entire lives, also pose a question to the viewers: How far have we gone for success, and how much of ourselves have we sacrificed to blend into what Mr. Keating dubs hoi polloi – the herd?
No one will deny that art is freeing — creative, lively, and spirited — but some will deny that it is important. It goes beyond comprehension and objectivity. It’s merely meant to spend time, and despite how elaborate it is, it’s of almost no pecuniary value. The march towards success stops at art: poetry, music, and acting are stepping stones in the journey for promised longevity. Art, despite its romance, is risky. Unless one is particularly good, it is nearly impossible to make a steady income from art. Art takes last place on the scale of certainty, certainty for a secure future, certainty for success, and certainty for approval.
The boys of Welton Academy know that futures in science or business are more certain than anyone else does. Whether the idea was handed to them on a golden platter, shoved into their hands, or dug up by themselves, it’s no secret to them that there is no room for art amidst a world of constant scientific and technological progression. Pupils Neil Perry and Todd Anderson, played by actors Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke respectively, pay heed to this warning. The two protagonists, like all the other boys, are complex and relatable, and both have stories that are so dynamic and compelling that members of the audience are able to see themselves in one or the other.
Burdened by his irrefutable father’s heavy expectations, Neil Perry has kept his head low his entire life, stifling his own desires with activities that he thinks will please his expectant father and sacrificing his free time to get ahead in the classroom. Any retort that he might have against his father’s demands is immediately shut down by his father’s sharp tongue and the guilty reminder that he has a duty to honor his parents’ sacrifices for him.
Todd Anderson, the younger sibling of one of Welton Academy’s most prolific students, struggles to speak up in a world where he feels he will never share his brother’s spotlight. It’s unclear what his parents want from him — what he wants from himself, but he has no choice but to assimilate into his role and try to become even a shadow of his brother.
With each other’s encouragement and Mr. Keating’s unconventional teachings, the two boys are inspired to change their lives. Neil tries out for a play outside of school and earns himself the lead role in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though he does it with neither the knowledge of his father nor the boarding school. Todd, slowly but surely, begins to discover and express his feelings through the wonderful language of poetry. He finally finds a vessel for his emotions and begins to break out of his shell, discovering a way to connect with others when he had previously shut them out. Their reliance on art as a way to break free from academic pressures and burdens that they fear they can not honor inspires watchers and reconciles them with the idea that art is a reliable pathway to self-fulfillment.
The rest of the Welton boys also change their lives one step at a time, regularly sneaking out of the academy to gather in a cave and read poems together. Though the boys are skeptical at first, they soon find that they are able to express a vulnerability in the cave that they were never able to before. Clad in hooded cloaks, stringing instruments across their shoulders, beseeching incredible tales of human woe — love, yearning, battle — and with nothing but the forest’s fog to bear witness to their romance, the boys officially declare themselves the ‘Dead Poets.’
Some people will deny that art is important — incomprehensible, subjective, and merely a pastime — but no one will deny that it is freeing. It transforms the lurking spirit into something feasible, it’s a way to communicate in a different language, and because of how original it is, it is priceless. Art takes first place on the pedestal of self-expression: the expression of inner turmoil, the expression of unrestrained passion, and the expression of everything worth staying alive for. When Shakespeare and his successors picked up the quill and took to the stage, they weren’t only aiming to please. They were also aiming to communicate, to hold onto their passion and use prose as a medium for the feelings inside of them. Every carefully curated word and every spoken line of dialogue was a testament to the lived human experience. When Beethoven composed music, he did not just do it for the reverence of others. He played the way he felt — fervently and madly — and even when he could no longer hear the music he did not stop letting it speak for him.
It is as Mr. Keating tells his students: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
Poetry is more than just decoration, and it’s not just something you’re told to read and interpret in English class for a nuanced understanding of literature. Art, that ability to concretize our passion into something to share with others, is a catalyst for punctuating one’s deepest emotions and celebrating the things that get our heart pumping. There is no better way to communicate the lived human experience than by painting, singing, and writing. In the end, science, logic, and law are what we pursue in order to maintain our livelihoods, but art and romance are what we pursue to maintain the feeling of being alive.
Unfortunately, the film finishes with tragedy. When Neil’s secret passion is found out by his father and threatened to be taken from him forever, he is backed into a corner of despair and ultimately decides to take his own life. Despite knowing that Mr. Perry is an overly controlling father who only sees value in success, the audience is unprepared for this resulting casualty, as it is a tragic shift from Neil’s happiness to his demise. When the other boys hear of Neil’s death, the feelings of hopelessness and dread within watchers are amplified, especially when Todd cries, “He wouldn’t have left us. It’s because he – he wouldn’t have. His dad was — his, his father did it.” Neil’s dream meant everything to him, and he wanted nothing more than to dedicate the rest of his life to acting. When his father ended that, he no longer had something that helped his heart to continue beating. This tragic moment, which shatters the previously perceived invincibility of the boys, is necessary because it reminds the audience that there will always be people who prioritize realism over romanticism, and that one cannot freely exist while the other does. Todd’s sorrowful, but insistent declaration that Neil’s life was actually upended by his father attributes blame to the one who has put a stop to free-thinking.
Even though the film teaches watchers about how important free thinking is and how advantageous it is to indulge in art, it does not shy away from the elephant in the room: that your struggle to become your own person will almost always be impeded by others, and that one’s inability to think and act freely is inhibited by those who believe conservatism and tradition must be upheld at all costs. The academy, desperate to save face, associates Neil’s death with Mr. Keating, blaming him for encouraging rebellion from his students. This demonstrates how ready people are to shut down those who break from the mold, and why it is so difficult for one to truly be able to become their own person. Mr. Keating, who feels a deep guilt for Neil’s demise, is forced to leave the academy, but not before the Welton boys declare their final “O Captain, my Captain” in his stead. This final bid goodbye to both their teacher and the audience suggest that despite all that has happened, the boys —and hopefully the viewers — will never forget Mr. Keating’s lessons even if everyone else wills them to.
Poetry is more than just decoration, and it’s not just something you’re told to read and interpret in English class for a nuanced understanding of literature. Art, that ability to concretize our passion into something to share with others, is a catalyst for punctuating one’s deepest emotions and celebrating the things that get our heart pumping. There is no better way to communicate the lived human experience than by painting, singing, and writing. In the end, science, logic, and law are what we pursue in order to maintain our livelihoods, but art and romance are what we pursue to maintain the feeling of being alive.