Dead Poet Society

Addison Callahan

3/3/13

Poetry

Dead Poets Society Essay

            At a boarding school founded on the ideals of tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence there is little room for free thinking and new ideas. But when Mr. Keating arrives at Welton Academy he opens the eyes of his students through his very unique and radical teaching style. Through the creation of the Dead Poets Society seven of his students undergo a reawakening that will change their lives forever.

            Mr. Keating uses a lesson in which he has three students start walking in a circle until they finally end up with the same stride. In doing this he shows the boys the influence of society and conformity in their lives. He stresses the importance of the boys having their own voice and convictions in life. Like this lesson in poetry we are taught that we must have a conviction or power behind writing or else it will have been pointlessly written. This is prevalent in life as well for if someone has no conviction in what they do there isn't any point in them doing it. Through the poem “Knock Knock” by Daniel Beaty we saw the affect that conviction has on writing giving it more purpose and feeling.

             Another lesson Mr. Keating teaches the boys is to stand on top of their desks so that they will always look at things from a different perspective even if they think they know everything about it. This lesson shows the importance of always approaching things for another way in order to gain a better understanding of it. In poetry we must always remember to look at things from a new perspective to write new pieces and enhance them with even more detail. We better explored this ideal through Taylor Mali’s poem “Totally like Whatever You Know”.  We looked at the phrases so commonly in today’s world from a new perspective better opening our eyes to them as a whole.

            Dead Poet Society connects in many ways to our class as a whole. Through both we learned how to become better poetry writers as well as better people. Life like poetry must always have purpose and drive behind it which is why through these two experiences I believe I have gained a better sense of how to live in the future.