Mr Keating Dead Poets Society
The movie, Dead Poet’ Society, is about a group of young boys who attend Welton Academy, a very strict and traditional school. Mr Keating, a well respected teacher, by the students at Welton Academy is looked upon as a bad influence on the students by the school's principal. The principal believed that Mr Keating’s teaching methods are unconventional and he was not following the schools 4 pillars, tradition, discipline, honour and excellence. Mr Keating uses fragments of poems to teach and make his points. When Mr Keating uses these fragments, the meaning of the poem is often misrepresented.
To the Virgins has to be carefully analysed to be fully understood. The poem is talking about a group of virgins who still have a lot to experience
in life. Each stanza in the poem has four lines and uses the ‘ABAB’ rhyming scheme. It is a lyric poem and is written in third person. The poet uses metaphors, such as, “The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,” to create imagery in the poem. In this metaphor the poet is comparing the sun to be like a lamp, and is suggesting that the sun is the first thing we see on our way up to Heaven once we die. During the course of the film, only the first stanza of the poem is used. In the movie the meaning of the poem is portrayed to be about living life to the fullest and not wasting any time. The poem says this by using the metaphor “And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.” This metaphor is comparing a flower to the days and time we have left on earth. It is saying that today, a flower that is healthy and standing tall, could be be dieing and wilting by the time tomorrow comes.
The reason To the Virgins was included in Dead Poets Society is unclear and questionable. In the scene that the fragment of the poem was used, it was Mr Keating’s day at Welton Academy. He led the students out of the classroom and into another room with lots of historical photos from past students of the academy. Me Keating got one of the boys to read the first stanza of To the Virgins. He told the boys that ‘gather ye rosebuds while ye may’ means ‘carpe diem’ in Latin. ‘Carpe diem’ means seize the day, and that is was Mr Keating told the boys to do. He also told them that one day, everybody standing in that room, will be food for worms. Some boys were shocked to hear these words come out of their new english teachers mouths, however Mr Keating saw it to be pure reality.
The meaning of To the Virgins compared to the meaning of the fragment of the poem that is used in Dead Poets’ Society have very similar meanings. The meaning of the poem is to live life to the fullest and not waste a single day. It tells the reader to go forward and get married because the time we have on the earth is limited. The meaning of the first stanza of To the Virgins, that is used in the film is to make the most of every day, or, as Mr Keating says, ‘carpe diem.’ It is clear that the meanings of the entire poem and the first stanza are almost identical.
After analysing To the Virgins, it was very distinct that the fragment used in the film and the entire poem were very similar in meanings. Mr Keating used the poem in the film to teach the boys about living and being the best version of yourself that you can be.
To the Virgins has to be carefully analysed to be fully understood. The poem is talking about a group of virgins who still have a lot to experience
in life. Each stanza in the poem has four lines and uses the ‘ABAB’ rhyming scheme. It is a lyric poem and is written in third person. The poet uses metaphors, such as, “The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,” to create imagery in the poem. In this metaphor the poet is comparing the sun to be like a lamp, and is suggesting that the sun is the first thing we see on our way up to Heaven once we die. During the course of the film, only the first stanza of the poem is used. In the movie the meaning of the poem is portrayed to be about living life to the fullest and not wasting any time. The poem says this by using the metaphor “And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.” This metaphor is comparing a flower to the days and time we have left on earth. It is saying that today, a flower that is healthy and standing tall, could be be dieing and wilting by the time tomorrow comes.
The reason To the Virgins was included in Dead Poets Society is unclear and questionable. In the scene that the fragment of the poem was used, it was Mr Keating’s day at Welton Academy. He led the students out of the classroom and into another room with lots of historical photos from past students of the academy. Me Keating got one of the boys to read the first stanza of To the Virgins. He told the boys that ‘gather ye rosebuds while ye may’ means ‘carpe diem’ in Latin. ‘Carpe diem’ means seize the day, and that is was Mr Keating told the boys to do. He also told them that one day, everybody standing in that room, will be food for worms. Some boys were shocked to hear these words come out of their new english teachers mouths, however Mr Keating saw it to be pure reality.
The meaning of To the Virgins compared to the meaning of the fragment of the poem that is used in Dead Poets’ Society have very similar meanings. The meaning of the poem is to live life to the fullest and not waste a single day. It tells the reader to go forward and get married because the time we have on the earth is limited. The meaning of the first stanza of To the Virgins, that is used in the film is to make the most of every day, or, as Mr Keating says, ‘carpe diem.’ It is clear that the meanings of the entire poem and the first stanza are almost identical.
After analysing To the Virgins, it was very distinct that the fragment used in the film and the entire poem were very similar in meanings. Mr Keating used the poem in the film to teach the boys about living and being the best version of yourself that you can be.