1959, a strict boarding school in Vermont. A new English teacher, John Keating, tells his students that poetry isn't something to measure with a graph. It's something to feel. A few of them revive a secret club, the Dead Poets Society, and sneak out at night to read poems aloud in a cave.
Dead Poets Society (1989) is often remembered for "carpe diem", seize the day. But the film is really about something slower: reading words aloud until they become your own.
Here are some of the texts behind the film, all old enough to be in the public domain, and free to read anywhere.
Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1648)
The poem Keating uses to introduce carpe diem. It opens with one of the most famous lines in English: "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." Read it slowly and notice that it isn't really about rushing. It's about noticing that time is passing, and choosing to live fully inside it.
Walt Whitman, "O Captain! My Captain!" (1865)
Written after the death of Abraham Lincoln, it gives the film its final, unforgettable scene. Read it aloud and feel how the rhythm rises and falls like a ship on the water, and how grief and pride live in the same lines.
Walt Whitman, "O Me! O Life!"
A short poem asking what good there is in life, amid so much foolishness and noise. Its answer gives the film one of its most quoted moments: that you are here, and that you may contribute a verse.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses" (1842)
An aging hero refuses to rest and sets out to sea one more time. Its last line is perfect to read aloud when you need courage: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
Not a poem, but the club's opening ritual: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately." Deliberately. It might be the best word for slow living ever written.
How to read a poem aloud, slowly
1. Read it once silently, just to know where it goes. 2. Read it aloud at half your usual speed. Pause at every line break, not only at the full stops. 3. Notice which words you want to stress. That's your reading. There isn't a wrong one. 4. Read it a third time, standing, as if someone you love were listening. 5. Choose one line to carry with you today. Write it on a card and keep it in your pocket.
More poetry, music and slow culture
The Digital subscription is made for this kind of nourishment: books, poetry, music, opera and ballet recommendations, places worth visiting, at least one video each month, and the digital edition of "(meditating) On Art". A little club of your own, no cave required.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi