Dead Poets Society and Lessons in Humanities

The 1980s gave us many memorable films, some of which were coming of age. Robin Williams would start in one called Dead Poets Society.

This film is one of the many outstanding performances from Robin Williams who portrays the film's main character. It even features a cast of rising stars and seasoned actors.

Set in 1959, the film follows an all-boys prep teacher named John Keating who was part of a secret group that read poetry from the likes of many poets and authors from classic literature called the Dead Poet Society. When one of his students inquired what it was about, it was a group that explored the themes of poetry and expressed themselves through its many themes. The movie shows him helping his students to think for themselves and to go against the grain thanks to the inspiration of their English teacher. Keating gets to the heart of it when he says,

“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. And medicine, law, business, and 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: “Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, / Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the fools. . . . 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.” . . . What will your verse be?”

What Keating sought to do was help his students to seize the day. It was a wake-up call to appreciate, learn, read, and write about the subjects of humanities. In an article from The Atlantic, Benjamin Schmidt, Assistant Professor of History at Northeastern University, made aware of the dire state of the humanities.

“Almost every humanities field has seen a rapid drop in majors,” he writes. “History is down about 45 percent from its 2007 peak, while the number of English majors has fallen by nearly half since the late 1990s. . . . The drop in majors since 2008 has been so intense that I now think there is, in the only meaningful sense of the word, a crisis.”

While he can’t focus on the main cause of the decline in the humanities, we can save it. It can be saved when we uphold the true, good, and beautiful of society. As for mortals,” the Psalmist sings, “their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Ps. 103:15–16).

Keating reminded his students, “This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls.” In other words, humanities are worth fighting for.

Keating has given us death and life which are two great gifts of humanity. He reminded his students of the lesson of the school’s past. And the lack of the humanities will destroy our souls.

Seize the Day

Carpe Diem would be a battle cry to his students. Often, we can struggle to make things happen. However, we can turn to God who can give us the strength to help others, live out the faith, pray, and overcome persecutions that lie ahead.

The film has aged like fine wine. Williams even does some improvised comedy into this timeless drama of the 1980s. In the scope of faith, it teaches us to learn how to look at things differently, always rely on God to help in conquering what is abound, and always be mezmerized by the humanities created by fellow humans. 

Carpe Diem