"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....But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."
- John Keating
Dead Poets Society
- John Keating
Dead Poets Society
This was my favorite movie growing up (and not just because of a young Ethan Hawke), but because of the subject matter. I've always been an advocate for thinking for yourself, and I think part of that was shaped from this movie. And then also because the writing was so poetic (example, above).
I know I promised more poems this month, but it's been extremely busy. And what reminded me of it was NPR talking about poetry a little bit ago. And there was just one brief mention of Pablo Neruda. And even though I was only half listening, I thought with a sigh, "Oh...Neruda." I still remember the first Neruda poem I read, even if I don't remember which one it was. Even in the English translation, it was like a whisper. It was love and it was passion and beauty.
In high school when I read my first Verlaine poem in French, I remember thinking how I was going to have learn so many languages to be able to read poetry in the original language. I loved how in the French poems the words used had a specific meaning, but then because of other meanings it just opened the poem up into whole new depths.
Poetry can be beautiful, yes, we all know that. But its intensity and beauty can both be violent, and defiant, such as some Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes.
I need to buy Dead Poets Society on dvd, especially because now I really want to watch it again. Even though it's sad, and I will probably stll sob at the end, it's just...it's such a poweful film. I don't think it'll ever be knocked off my top 10, or even my top 5.
And poetry does that too. It's a glimpse into a particular feeling or a particular time, raw and bare. Even though I look back at my poetry from college and even, oh lord, high school, and want to laugh at it, at the time it was what I felt. It was a moment in my life, a snapshot of a place I'll never be again and a feeling I'll never exactly have.
And now I've realized how this post doesn't quite tie in together. I started thinking of Dead Poets Society thinking about poetry, because of that scene where there's a graph drawn on how to tell whether a poem is great. And Keating essentially says "eh, screw it. You should judge a poem on how it makes you feel." Keating's exact words were: "Excrement! That's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard! We're not laying pipe! We're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? 'I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it!'"
"...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!'"
- John Keating
Dead Poets Society
- John Keating
Dead Poets Society
2 comments:
Wonderful thoughts--just the sort of thing I needed this morning. Yes, Keating was right when he said what matters is how a poem makes us feel. And I envy you for being able to read Verlaine in the original. My French has never been good enough and I've always had to rely on translations. Still better to read the translations than to never read it at all...especially Neruda.
Thank you! Well, I envy those who can read Neruda in the original Spanish. And Russian literature in Russian. Another story, but I've had a discussion with a friend about that. He said there's a lot that doesn't come across and it's hard to explain.
But yes, you're right about that. At least we have all these translations and can discover all these other writers.
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