Dead Poets Society

 

This book is a novelised version of the 1989-movie by the same name. It tells the story of an unconventional English teacher, John Keating, and a few of his 16-year-old students at Welton Academy Prep School. The plot is set in 1959 when elite schools followed certain rigid codes very religiously. Welton (which is Hellton for the students of this novel) is erected on the “four pillars” of Tradition, Honour, Discipline and Excellence. All the teachers except Mr Keating belong to the usual conventional rut.

Keating inspires his students to follow their hearts. Carpe Diem, he tells them, Seize the day, “… because we’re food for worms, lads!” “Because we’re only going to experience a limited number of springs, summers, and falls.” There’s much to be done before our bodies turn cold in their inevitable tombs.

Triumph as individuals instead of following the herd. That’s one of the things we need to do, Keating tells his students. As an English teacher, Keating insists on his students to savour language because “no matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas have the power to change the world.” Science and other subjects will help to sustain life. But poetry, romance, and passion – they are what life is essentially about.

Inspired by Keating, a group of boys (Welton is a boys’ school) resurrect the Dead Poets Society which existed as a secret society in Welton when Keating was a student there. The society is “dedicated to sucking the marrow out of life,” Keating says using Thoreau’s words. “A small group of us would meet at the old cave, and we would take turns reading Shelley, Thoreau, Whitman, our own verse – and the enchantment of the moment let it work its magic on us.”

Get the maximum out of life. Live life passionately. A group of Keating’s students take that seriously and the plot moves on to the expected oppositions: from school as well as parents. There is gnashing of teeth and some tragedy too. And something more than tragedy too.

I came to know about this book as well as the movie when Sandra, a grade-12 student of mine, compared me to Keating two days back. Her comparison raised my curiosity and I borrowed her copy of the novel. As I turned the pages, I was a little alarmed. Am I really like Mr Keating? All heart and little brain?

There is something anti-intellectual about Mr Keating. Conventions – social as well as academic – ossify you into robotic adherents of given truths. Keating’s solution is to follow the heart. No wonder, his favourites are the Romantic poets. He is not interested in critical analyses of poems. He wants students to savour the passion in the verse.

No, I am not anti-intellectual though the Romantic worldview occupies a prominent place in my heart with all its fire of passion. There is something shallow about Keating which I didn’t like. But this was primarily a movie, I said to myself. A popular movie which teens loved. The shallowness is understandable. I reasoned. Yet the urge to ask Sandra what she found in common between the protagonist and me was irresistible.

“Keating is a really fun teacher so are you,” Sandra texted me promptly. “And the kids in the book enjoy English classes. Just like him (Keating), u teach us things that lie beyond the texts… You actually treat us as both students and people in a society. You’re fun altogether. English classes are so energetic. All of us look forward to English classes. And I’m sure it’s becoz of the teacher.”

That’s a huge compliment from a student and I lap it up particularly in these days of the pandemic which has made classes herculean challenges. But Keating is certainly not the kind that would be my role model. I hope beyond the fun and the passion, my classes tickle your grey matter too, dear Sandra.

And one more thing, I love the logo with which you stamp your personal mark on the front page of your books. There’s something in it that the Romantic John Keats would admire.

xZx