Carpe Diem

This is the story of students at the respected "Welton Academy," a preparatory school in Vermont. Such schools were (and often still are) very conservative institutions that serve as high schools for parents who insist on sending their children to the best universities. Welton, like many prep schools, admitted only boys. The movie takes place in 1959.

The plot centers on the influence of Mr. Keating, a young and exciting English and poetry teacher, who is determined to teach his students to live life with absolute passion and to suck the marrow of life. Mr. Keating, using poetry as his vehicle, teaches his students to challenge the institutions around them.

Inspired by Mr. Keating's philosophy of life, many of his students recreated the "Dead Poet's Society," a secret club which meets in a cave in order to discuss poetry, philosophy and other topics. The club, which Mr. Keating had created many years earlier when he was a student at Welton, would be completely unacceptable to the conservative school, which discourages students from "thinking for themselves." Indeed, Welton students should be in their rooms, studying only the prescribed materials that their teachers assign.

The two main characters, one is the painfully shy Todd Anderson and the other who is exceedingly bright and popular but very much under the thumb of his overbearing father, along with their other friends, got themselves drawn to Professor Keating who has become a strong influence in their thoughts and actions. He encourages them to go against the status quo and each, in his own way, does this, and is changed for life.

"Carpe Diem!"

The most important words in the movie! Latin for "seize the day," or more generally, "live life to the fullest." Although a Latin term, this movie popularized it into a relatively uncommon expression used by English speakers.

In Real Life

We are not Dead Poets but living people, and as such, constant learners and communicators. Like the high school boys in the story, we discuss all topics under the sun, as part of our intellectual exercise and as we give “life to word” and give “word to life”. “Verbum vitam”. In real life, and as part of a collectivist society, we are Mr. John Keating to each other, as we are a mentor to each other and we are expected to influence one another to think critically and productively and express these thoughts in words to enable each other to live life to the fullest. That can only be possible if we put in our mind and heart to “seize the day” every day, as every day is a day of opportunity. For us to be able to live life fully, let us make it a point to “seize the day”, to suck the marrow of life. Let us do what we can today and not wait for tomorrow as the present is real. For yesterday is only a dream, tomorrow only a vision, but today well lived will make every yesterday a dream of happiness and tomorrow a vision of hope. Mark Twain once said that “Twenty years from now, we will be more disappointed by the things we did not do than by the things we did. So fellow humans, let us throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor and catch the trade winds of our sails. Let us explore, dream, and discover. Carpe Diem!