"Dead Poets Society" is one of my favorite movies. I think it was one of the first movies I saw that challenged me to think. I've never been a huge fan of poetry or even really smart literature, but I felt inspired sitting in on John Keating's class.
A class of boys was transformed through Keating's controversial teaching. He continued to poke and prod and question everything they had been trained to accept as status quo.
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering... these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love...these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!...of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless...of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here...that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
I don't think it's enough to exist. I want to contribute a verse.
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