From Dead poets society ... On poetry During one of his classes John Keating (a real life teacher played by Robin Williams) makes them rip out the entire introduction to their Pritchard Introduction to Poetry textbooks, while explaining why they should read and write poetry .... Excrement. Thats what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Were not laying pipe, were talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I cant dance to it. Now I want you to rip out that page. Go on, rip out the entire page. You heard me, rip it out. Rip it out! Go on, rip it out....Gentlemen, tell you what, dont just tear out that page, tear out the entire introduction. I want it gone, history. Leave nothing of it. Rip it out. Rip! Begone J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. Rip, shred, tear. Rip it out. I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard. Well perforate it, put it on a roll. Its not the Bible, youre not gonna go to hell for this. Go on, make a clean tear, I want nothing left of it....Rip it out, rip!...I dont hear enough rips....Keep ripping, gentlemen. This is a battle, a war. And the casualties could be your hearts and souls. (collecting scraps of paper in a metal wastebasket) Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Armies of academics going forward, measuring poetry. No, we will not have that here. No more of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Now in my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. I see that look in Mr. Pitts eye, like 19th Century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school. Right? Maybe. Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking Yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions. I have a little secret for ya. Huddle up. Huddle up!We dont read and write poetry because its 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? On conformity In the outdoor courtyard of the Welton School, three of Keatings students were striding along, accompanied by the clapping cadence of others applauding. They all engaged in a military march led by their teacher, while shouting out: I dont know but Ive been told, Doin poetry is old, after which he delivered a lesson about conformity: Thank you, gentlemen. If you noticed, everyone started off with their own stride, their own pace. Mr. Pitts taking his time. He knew hell get there one day. Mr. Cameron you could see him thinking, Is this right? It might be right. It might be right. I know that. Maybe not. I dont know. Mr. Overstreet driven by a deeper force. Yes. We know that. All right. Now, I didnt bring them up here to ridicule them. I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others. Now, those of you - I see the look in your eyes like, I wouldve walked differently. Well, ask yourselves why you were clapping. Now, we all have a great need for acceptance. But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, Thats baaaaad. Robert Frost said, Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Now, I want you to find your own walk right now. Your own way of striding, pacing. Any direction. Anything you want. Whether its proud, whether its silly, anything. Gentlemen, the courtyard is yours.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:44:11 +0000
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