In this generation, the love for poetry has gone extinct. However, Dead Poets Society, a movie written by Tom Schulman, reignites that fire. It's about an English teacher who inspires Charlie, Knox, Neil, Todd, Cameron, Pitts, and Meeks (his English students) through his knowledge of poetry. They go to a strict all-boy boarding school, set in 1959, and have all been confined to what others want them to be. This summary doesn’t do the movie justice, so I recommend you go watch it and come back, or let me convince you why you should watch it by one character alone. For the ones who have watched this incredible movie, I have one question for you at the end.
The character I relate to the most is Todd Anderson, played by Ethan Hawke. Todd first appears shy when we’re introduced to him as the main character's roommate. He keeps to himself for the most part, despite his new friends trying to hang out with him, and refuses to read both in class and at the Dead Poets' Society meeting. He changes throughout the movie, being the only student to stand up for Mr. Keating when he gets fired initially. One of my favorite scenes of the movie is when the new teacher asks him to read but he reverts to his anxious self until he finally gets up on the table to defend Mr. Keating. That’s more anxiety-provoking than just reading but it shows how dynamic and powerful his character development was.
Early Todd and my adolescent self would’ve gotten along. We probably would both be too shy to speak, but we’d relate to each other. I grew up isolated from my family because they intentionally shut me out. They would purposely ignore me, call me names, address me by the word “creature” instead of my actual name, and would lock me out of rooms. They would often judge me for the smallest things, like if I breathed in a way they didn’t like. So I grew up thinking everything I did and said was embarrassing or that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I know we all can relate to feeling like we’re invisible or that our voice isn’t heard. So, like Todd, I rather stay quiet. I had friends just like he did, but it took me a while to be comfortable with the people around me. I had so many passions but didn’t know how to express myself due to fear and trauma. It held me back on numerous occasions.
Todd's peak came when he wrote a poem for a class assignment but refused to share it. Instead, out of his fear, he said he just didn’t do the assignment, which isn’t true because he loved poetry. Mr. Keating did an exercise with Todd in front of the class to show that embarrassment is nothing compared to the creativity that can come out of it. He told Todd, “Forget them, forget them, stay with the blanket, tell me about the blanket,” and it was at that moment Todd changed forever.
My turning point was similar. It was last summer when I joined Kean’s writer's retreat in the summer with Dr. Zamora. I’ve always wanted to share my poetry out loud and I knew I had to do something about it. The people I met there will stay with me forever. I was pushed beyond my limit with vulnerability and finally got to a place where I could share. I was so nervous, but they knew me at that point and encouraged me. After that space, I knew I wanted to continue to be open with people. So the next semester I did exactly that. I put myself out there, tried going to as many open mics as possible, and ended up making two new friends at college. Now I’m your blogger for this summer's internship. I don’t recognize who I was two years ago and that’s a beautiful thing.
This movie made me sob at the end and if you watched it YOU KNOW WHY. Everyone who watches it deserves compensation because it’s not the gooey hopeful ending you’d hope for. Yet, it reminded me why I love poetry and why the true meaning behind it is far from academic analysis. Measuring and analyzing stanzas could be beneficial but I don’t think it was ever made for that reason. It even made Shakespeare sound cool- honestly, he’s the most boring person to learn about.
For those of you who made it to the end, I have two questions for you:
Which character do YOU relate to the most? What kind of person do you want to grow to be? What’s something that’ll ignite your fire?
My three favorite scenes you MUST go back to from time to time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64SctPKmqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ_htuCMCqM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OE6bDfM2M
All the poems mentioned in the movie:
“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
“The Ballad of William Bloat” by Raymond Calvert
“The Prophet” by Abraham Cowley
‘“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
“To the Virgins” by Robert Herrick
“The Congo” by Vachel Lindsay
“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” by William Shakespeare
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
“Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Walden” by Henry David Thoreau
“O Captain! My Captain!” and “O Me! O Life!” by Walt Whitman (my personal favorite)
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