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Dead Poets Society: Examples Of Transcendentalism In Dead Poet Society

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Dead Poets Society Transcendentalism is about life in which nature and the soul connect. In the movie Dead Poet Society, one of the characters who shows transcendentalism in Neil Perry. In the movie the students quoted poems and had their alone time with nature. They also relied on themselves and sought the spiritual side of things. Throughout the movie, Neil went to a cave away from people. Furthermore, Neil’s friends joined him to have fun with the Dead Poets Society, a group Neil recreated after hearing that his professor, Mr. Keating, had been involved in when he was a student at Welton. Overall, Neil Perry was a great example of transcendentalism throughout the entire movie. One transcendental quality Neil possessed was his love for the beauty of words. Neil Perry was a good student; he wanted to do what was best for him and not what his mom and dad wanted. For example, Neil loved words and acting. Neil quoted poetry and felt poetry was the highest form of creativity. At the beginning of every Dead Poets meeting, Neil would recite the following: “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life” (Leonard). This quote from Henry David Thoreau, the father of Transcendentalism, was a true testament to the type of person Neil was. Neil Perry also valued alone time with nature, away from the distraction of civilization and industrialization. Neil, Cameron, Todd and Charlie all went to the Indian cave
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