Release Date: 1990
Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Weir
Notable Cast Members: Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke
Country: U.S.
Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:  Robin Williams stars as Mr. Keating, an English teacher at an elite, all-boys' prep school, where the emphasis is on tradition rather than free-thinking.  Keating tries -- through exposure to the canon of Western "dead poets" -- to give the future lawyers, bankers, and doctors an appreciation of life, love, and beauty.  In the process, however, he arouses the suspicion of the school's administration for his unorthodox methods and chumminess with the starved-for-enlightenment students.  Keating is a tragic hero because, as he innocently attempts to open the lads' eyes to individuality and passion, he is unconscious of how impressionable they really are.  Conflict enters the story when the boys resurrect a secret poetry-reading society at the school.  Infected with grandiose concepts -- but without Keating's guidance -- the students interpret Horace's "carpe diem" and Thoreau's advice to "live deliberately" and "suck the marrow from the bones of life" as an invitation to act out recklessly.  One student, armed with flowers and love poems, stalks an unimpressed townie girl.  Another plays beatnik and nearly pushes the school to expel him for challenging their long-standing rules.  And yet another defies his demanding father's orders to abandon acting by starring in a local Shakespeare comedy.

Ostensibly set in New England in the 1960s, the film feels modern enough to take place today.  And the story appeals to sentiments that any teen, anywhere, can relate to (most notably, rebellion against the oppressiveness of authority).  The movie boasts credible performances by the youths, but the script is often treacly and predictable; and the adults (other than Keating) are depicted as sternly unsympathetic caricatures.  Dead Poets Society should be commended for its efforts to introduce poetry and literature to a demographic not usually known for embracing such things.  At the same time though, the film's glamourization of suicide as martyrdom for art's sake is ridiculous; the writers thoroughly underestimate teenagers' resiliency and adaptability.  Ultimately, despite its good intentions, the movie sends a contradictory message: poetry, art, and drama are what make life worth living, so be prepared to die for them.

Role and significance of Whitman in the film:  Being an American film about poetry, passion, and individualism, there are naturally a number of references to Whitman.  Keating calls him as one of "the biggies," up there with Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, Milton, and Dante (who are all conspicuously not American).  Interestingly, there is only one picture in Keating's classroom, a portrait of Uncle Walt, watching over the proceedings.

On the first day of classes, Keating has a student read aloud the introduction to their textbook, "What is Poetry?" which plots the greatness of poetry on axes of technique and importance.  Keating dismisses the clinical essay as "excrement" and has the students tear the pages out of their books.  He then tells the boys why one should read poetry: not because it's "cute," but instead to be able to "savor words and language."  To illustrate the importance of poetry in the students' process of self-discovery, Keating quotes Whitman: "Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring.... Answer: That you are here -- that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

Keating instructs the students that they are to address him as "O Captain, My Captain."  It makes sense that the film would use one of Whitman's more famous poems, but in the context of that poem (Lincoln's assassination) the choice seems unusual.  After all, why would the teacher want to evoke the image of a leader "fallen cold and dead"?  We could give the screenwriters the benefit of the doubt by saying that Keating is foreshadowing his own character assassination at the hands of the school's administration, and that the boys are left directionless after his termination, but that might be a stretch.

The most important Whitman reference in the film is when Keating tries to draw a shy boy, Anderson, out of his shell by having him come to the front of the classroom to "sound his Barbaric Yawp."  After a few reluctantly spoken yawps, Keating irritates the student until he "yawps" at the top of his voice.  Then he covers the boy's eyes and tells him to describe what he sees.  Anderson, embarrassed and panicked, begins to spout improvised verse about the Whitman portrait watching the class: "a sweaty-toothed madman....whose stare pounds my brain."  Keating is satisfied that 1) the student has learned something about tapping his emotions in order to write confidently, and 2) that the class understands the cathartic quality of sounding a "barbaric yawp" can help them to overcome timidness and to create.
 

Information and analysis contributed by Patrick Gough