Unless you’re an English major or a natural born Shakespeare lover, reading and relating to poetry is difficult. Yet Robin Williams’ character, Mr. Keating, makes it incredibly easy to savor poetry.
Here are the top four "Dead Poets Society" quotes every college kid needs to fall in love with:
1. "No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."
#2 “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Don't be resigned to that. Break out!”
#3 “They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? Carpe … hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
#4 “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And 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?”
Mr. Keating showed us that we each have something to offer the world. Oftentimes, it’s easy to fall into a spiral of desperation during the month approaching final exams. There’s so much pressure to do well that sometimes, we fail to look beyond our GPA. We forget that we’re part of something larger than our current struggles. Let us remember that “the powerful play goes on and [we] may contribute a verse.”
I want my verse to be spectacular.
Yours should be too.
