Dead Poets Society analyse Essay poetry
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Dead poets’
society
Assignment 1:
Part 1:
Creativity:
When Mr. Keating enters the classroom, he tells the boys something else than what the school and their parents have been teaching them. Poetry is not about tradition, and perfection. Poetry is about freedom, and creativity. The dead poets society then motivates them to be more creative, and this results to the boys making all kinds of creative stuff, like Nuwanda his poems for example. And I think this is beautiful because of how it contradicts the strict message of the school; Tradition, Honour, discipline and excellence.
Carpe diem:
In the beginning of the movie, when Mr. Keating first whispers the words “Carpe diem”, the boys don’t take him too seriously. But the more lessons they have from the special English teacher, the more they start to believe in this motto. Like how Neil decides to audition for one of the roles in the play, even though his father would not want him to. When Todd then asks why Neil does this, all he says is “carpe diem”. The same happens for Knox, who decides to try to get the girl he loves from her boyfriend, because after all, you only live once, so you better seize the day.
Part 2:
1: I personally believe, that the character that was most transformed by the events of the story was Neil. As he decides to do things he would have never even dared to do before. Like directly disobeying his father, and taking part in the play. Or forging a signature of his father, and doing it all while laughing. And needless to say, in the end, Neil commits suicide, which he would not even have thought of in the beginning of the movie, due to his ‘bright future’. But the events of the movie, then lead him to taking such a choice, because even though he has the performances to become a doctor, he only whished to do what he himself decided to. So fundamentally, in the beginning Neil lets his father make all decisions for him, but in the ending, he takes the only path, which he himself could choose for.
Assignment 2
O me! O Life!
When you first read the famous poem by Walt Whitman; O me! O Life! you might immediately feel that it evokes an idea of existentialism, and a person wondering about their purpose in life. It seems one person is constantly pondering what influence their live has on the universe.
We can see when he writes “ O Me! O life! of the questions of these recurring ” that the question he has keeps returning to his mind. The poem is also quite peculiarly written as more of a question, than a statement. Hence, it also has an answer. And I think the answer is the part the poem that portrays the morale. That your purpose in
life has been and will be; “ That you are here - that life exists and identity. That the
powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. ”
In my view, I think that this poem offers a beautiful thought of purpose; that you may exist, and that of all the people that have lived and will live on this planet, you were one.
Excerpt from Walden; a minimalistic doubt of society
Henry David Thoreau’s poem ‘Excerpt from Walden’ is one of the most well-known poems ever. Many would say it epitomises the simplicity countless of us want in life, and it is known to dive deeply into one of the most perpetual doubts for man; ‘Are we living life to its fullest?’ In this essay, Thoreau’s most prominent work shall be analysed and discussed.
The poem starts of with a simple course of action, as the tone of the poem feels like someone dictating their actions as they are performing them. The speaker goes to live in a forest “ to front only the essential facts of life ”. One might say this is the topic sentence, as it quite accurately summarises the plot of the poem. He then talks about his wish to learn from life, and not die knowing he did not live to enjoy every moment. He also speaks about not wanting to live what is not life, which is assumably about the busy city life you would find around the 18th century, when this was written.
After the speaker says “ nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow of life ” the tone of the poem switches to a different feeling. From there onwards it feels more like someone trying to figure something out, and trying to explain it to themself. It seems he is trying to figure out a way to live, a way to find happiness. As he talks about not wanting to “practice resignation” unless absolutely necessary. In all likelihood, this is about not wanting to commit suicide, as he wants to “ suck all the marrow of life ”. Therefor this part feels like it happened prior to the speaker going to the woods, because in this poem living nothing but life its essentials, feels like an answer.
The next part of the poems is really about the point of all these questions and doubts,
as he speaks about wanting to “ drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest
terms, and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion ” So essentially, by living in the woods, he want to find what life its pure essentials are, if these turn out to be “mean” he want to let the whole word know, and if these turn out to be sublime, know what that feels like, and be able to recognise it in his “next excursion”.
So, in conclusion, he then ends it of with quite a daring thing to say, for the time period in which he wrote this: “ For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to ‘glorify God and enjoy him forever’ .” Essentially criticising the men that believe our only purpose on earth is to glorify and enjoy God. Personally, I think Thoreau was an extraordinary smart man for the time in which he lived, as he was not scared of doubting and questioning the fundamentals of his society. So ultimately, I think that this poem is a great advocate, for life, and all its essentials.
