Dead Poet’s Society and Walt Whitman Essay

November 2, 2008 Jessica Finne
Tags: Dead Poet's Society, Walt Whitman

Jessica Finne

Ms. Bazinet

Honors English III

30 October 2008

 

Dead Poet’s Society and Walt Whitman

 

      In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society, Walt Whitman is influenced largely throughout the film. Whitman is a famous poet and many of his poems are referred to or recited during the duration of the movie. Mr. Keating, the new English teacher, teaches the boys in an unusual way compared to the “normal” standard teaching methods at that particular school. He teaches the boys to look at things in a different perspective and to think for themselves. Whitman wrote poetry that was not “normal” compared to other poets during and before the period he lived in. He though for himself and wrote about subjects that seemed “wrong” to publicly display in poem, like homosexuality. In Dead Poet’s Society, the boys go to a male gender only school. Although homosexuality is not mentioned or referred to and heterosexual relationships are present, it seems somewhat ironic for the school to be only occupied by male students. Knox Overstreet was also influenced by Whitman. Whitman wrote about many romantic ideas and topics. Throughout the movie, Knox was interested in a girl. She was already in a relationship, which caused Overstreet to feel hurt and heartbroken. This was another one of Whitman’s many topics in his poetry. In the film, the group recreated by the main characters, the Dead Poet’s Society, was also influenced by Whitman. The group read powerful poems from deceased, famous poets, just as Walt Whitman is.

      Through the movie, symbols and motifs are used that can be connected to Whitman or one of his poems. In Whitman’s poems, there are large amounts of imagery used. Since Dead Poet’s Society is a movie, which consists of visual images, looking for a deeper meaning is required. The use of lights is common within the film. Lights symbolize knowledge. Whitman was an intelligent man who had a keen way of putting words together. Lighting imagery appeared in many of his poems. The symbols of crosses also appear frequently throughout the film as well. The crosses symbolize Christ. Whitman was a deist. He did not believe in any one religion but he welcomed all faiths equally. Neil Perry committed suicide in a Christ-like way. It almost seemed as though he was crucified.

      Whitman looms large in this film in ways that aren’t so obvious. Looking carefully and having a true understand of Whitman is the key to finding the influence of his poems and his characters in the Dead Poet’s Society.

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