hello mr. nolan.
thank you, sir.
i'll do my best sir.
hey, i hear we're gonna be roommates.
i'm neil perry.
why'd you leave balincrest?
oh, so you're that anderson.
hey knox.
yeah, sure.
listen, don't mind cameron. he was born with his foot in his mouth. you know what i mean?
yep. chemistry. my father thought i should get ahead. how was your summer slick?
gentlemen, what are the four pillars?
sure. cameron asked me too. anyone mind including him?
come on, he's your roommate.
oh, this is todd anderson.
todd's brother was jeffrey anderson.
it's open.
father, i thought you'd gone.
but i'm the assistant editor this year.
but father, i can't. it wouldn't be fair.
father, i wasn't disputing-
yes sir. i'm sorry.
yes sir. you know me, always taking on too much.
yes sir.
oh, that's rich. like you guys tell your parents off, mr. future lawyer and mr. future banker.
well just don't tell me how to talk to my father. you guys are the same way.
what i have to do. drop the annual.
i don't care. i don't give a damn about any of it.
yes.
but different.
me.
anything's better than hell-ton hash.
hey, you coming to the study group tonight?
suit yourself.
of course.
are you crazy? what's wrong with that?
understanding poetry, by dr. j. evans pritchard, ph.d. to fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme, and figures of speech. then ask two questions: one, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered, and two, how important is that objective. question one rates the poem's perfection, question two rates its importance. and once these questions have been answered, determining a poem's greatest becomes a relatively simple matter.
if the poem's score for perfection is plotted along the horizontal of a graph, and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.
a sonnet by byron may score high on the vertical, but only average on the horizontal. a shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. as you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. as your ability to evaluate poems in this matter grows, so will - so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry.
rip, rip, rip!
hey, i found his senior annual in the library.
listen to this, captain of the soccer team, editor of the school annual, cambridge bound, thigh man, and the dead poets society.
i don't know.
nothing. no other mention of it.
mr. keating? mr. keating? sir? oh captain, my captain?
we were just looking in your old annual.
what was the dead poets society?
why? what was it?
sure.
dead poets society.
i say we go tonight.
it's beyond the stream. i know where it is.
all right, who's in?
forget hager, no. who's in?
what? pitts-
you can help him meeks.
forget it pitts, you're coming. meeks, are your grades hurting too?
okay, follow the stream to the waterfall. it's right there. it's got to be on the banks.
todd, are you coming tonight?
why not? god, you were there. you heard keating. don't you want to do something about it?
but? but what?
gosh, you really have a problem with that, don't you?
all right. what if you didn't have to read? what if you just came and listened?
forget how it works. what if - what if they said it was okay?
i'll be right back.
you're in.
you okay?
all right, all right, forget the fire. let's go gentlemen.
i hereby reconvene the dead poets society.
welton chapter. the meetings will be conducted by myself and the other new initiates now present. todd anderson, because he prefers not to read, will keep minutes of the meetings. i'll now read the traditional opening message by society member henry david thoreau. "i went to the woods because i wanted to live deliberately. i wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
"to put to rout all that was not life, and not, when i had come to die, discover that i had not lived.
and keating's marked a bunch of other pages.
raisins?
it was a dark and rainy night, and this old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. but as she pieced the puzzle together, she realized, to her astonishment, that the image that was formed was her very own room. and the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was herself. and with trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window. the last thing that this old lady ever heard was the sound of breaking glass.
this is true, this is true.
you memorized a poem?
you know this is history. right? this is history.
wow! did you write that?
alfred lord tennyson. come my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset. and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;-- one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
uh, to communicate.
i found it.
what i wanna do right now. what's really, really inside me.
this is it.
it's a play, dummy.
right. they're putting it on at henley hall. open tryouts. open tryouts!
so, i'm gonna act. yes, yes! i'm gonna be an actor! ever since i can remember, i've wanted to try this. i even tried to go to summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't let me. for the first time in my whole life i know what i wanna do.
and for the first time i'm gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! carpe diem!
first i gotta get the part, then i can worry about that.
no, no, no, no. as far as i'm concerned, he won't have to know about any of this.
bullshit! nothing's impossible.
that's a laugh!
if i don't ask him, at least i won't be disobeying him.
jesus, todd! whose side are you on?
i mean, i haven't even gotten the part yet. can't i even enjoy the idea for a little while?
you're coming to the meeting this afternoon?
nothing mr. keating has to say means shit to you, does it, todd?
you're in the club! being in the club means being stirred up by things. you look about as stirred up as a cesspool.
no! i want you in, but being in means you gotta do something. not just say you're in.
don't you think you could be?
no.
no.
"we are dreaming of a--" poetry! i'm being chased by walt whitman! okay, okay.
charlie!
charlie, i got the part! i'm gonna play puck! i'm gonna play puck!
that's the main part.
charlie, i got it!
okay, okay, okay, okay.
they need a letter of permission from my father and mr. nolan.
oh yes, i am.
okay. "i am writing to you on behalf of my son neil perry."
this is great.
friend, scholar, welton men.
no. this is the god of the cave.
where are you going?
todd? hey.
what's going on?
is today your birthday? happy birthday.
what's you get?
isn't this the same desk set-
oh.
maybe they thought you needed another one.
todd, i think you're underestimating the value of this desk set.
i mean, who would want a football or a baseball, or-
or a car if they could have a desk set as wonderful as this one? i mean, if, if i were ever going to buy a, a desk set twice, i would probably buy this one both times. in fact, its, its shape is, it's rather aerodynamic, isn't it? i can feel it. this desk set wants to fly.
todd? the world's first unmanned flying desk set.
well, i wouldn't worry. you'll get another one next year.
hello.
nuwanda?
join?
how did you do that?
all right, but you still shouldn't have done it, charlie. this could mean trouble. you don't speak for the club.
you kicked out?
so what happened?
so, what are you gonna do? charlie!
save some for me. "but, room, fairy! here comes oberon."
father.
wait a minute. before you say anything, please let me ex-
no. nobody-- i thought i'd surprise you. i've gotten all a's in every class.
no, i can't. i have the main part. the performance is tomorrow night.
yes, sir.
no, sir.
can i speak to you a minute?
i'm sorry. here.
tea. sure.
no, thanks.
gosh, they don't give you much room around here.
she's pretty.
how can you stand it?
you can go anywhere. you can do anything. how can you stand being here?
i just talked to my father. he's making me quit the play at henley hall. acting's everything to me. i-- but he doesn't know. he-- i can see his point. we're not a rich family like charlie's, and we-- but he's planning the rest of my life for me, and i-- h-he's never asked me what i want.
i can't.
i can't talk to him this way.
i know what he'll say. he'll tell me that acting's a whim, and i should forget it. that how they're counting on me. he'll just tell me to put it out of my mind, "for my own good."
no. what about the play? the show's tomorrow night.
isn't there an easier way?
i'm trapped.
uh, he didn't like it one bit, but at least he's letting me stay in the play. he won't be able to make, make it. he's in chicago. but, uh, i think he's gonna let me stay with acting.
yeah. he wasn't happy. but he'll be gone at least four days. i don't think he'll make the show, but i think he'll let me stay with it. "keep up the school work." thanks.
i can't, guys.
but that's ten more years. father, that's a lifetime!
i've got to tell you what i feel.
nothing.
i was good. i was really good.