Dead Poets Society Transcendentalism

In the beginning of the movie Dead Poets Society, a new English teacher is introduced as Professor John Keating. During his classes, Mr. Keating is shown teaching Transcendentalist and Romanticist ways instead of the more normal way of teaching like the other teachers at Welton Academy practice. Examples of Keating’s different teaching styles include bringing his students outside for different poetry exercises, ripping out pages of their textbook, and influencing the concept of carpe diem, or seize the day. Keating’s way of teaching though, brings up the question of whether or not this brought more grief or more happiness on the students in the movie. Even with some of the terrible outcomes Mr. Keating’s teaching brought, the students of Welton Academy were brought more happiness than grief when acting out their Transcendental and Romantic beliefs.

To put this into different words, Henry David Thoreau once said “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” This quote shows how the young men in this movie lived their lives after Mr. Keating showed them the ways of the Transcendentalists and the Romantics. Neil Perry was inspired to try out for a play and got the lead part of Puck in A Midsummer Night's

When Mr. Keating taught the young men about Transcendentalism and Romanticism, he probably didn’t expect all of the outcomes that came with it. When Neil’s father found out about the play, he unenrolled Neil from Welton and enrolled him into a military academy that would add on extra years of school. Later that night, Neil ended up committing suicide, leaving his father to blame his death on Mr. Keating, who would later be dismissed from teaching at Welton. Charles Dalton, also known as Charlie or Nawanda, snuck in an article that supported letting girls into Welton Academy, an all boys school, and after later getting into a fight, he was expelled from the