2بخش

Why does the writer use these lines?

Because he’s in a hurry.

No.Ding.

Thanks for playing anyway.

Because we are food for worms, lads.

Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold and die.

I would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past.

You’ve walked past them many times, but I don’t think you’ve really looked at them.

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.

That was weird.

But different.

Spooky, if you ask me.

Think he’ll test us on that stuff?

Oh, come on, Cameron.

Don’t you get anything?

What?

What?

Let’s go, boys.

Hustle up in here.

That means you, Dalton.

Who’s up for a trig study group tonight?

Sure.

Me.

What?

I can’t make it, guys.

I have to have dinner at the Danburrys’ house tonight.

The Danburrys?

Who are the Danburrys?

Big alums. How’d you swing that?

Friends of my dad’s.

They’re probably in their 90s or something.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Anything’s better than Hell-ton hash, Knox.

I’ll second that.

Yeah, we’ll see.

Hey.

Coming to the study group tonight?

Uh, no.

No, I’ve got some history I want to do.

Suit yourself.

Ready, Overstreet?

Ready to go, sir.

Chet, can you get that?

Can’t, Mom.

I’ll get it.

Can I help you?

Hi.

Knox Overstreet.

Uh.

Dr. Hager.

Hi.

This is the Danburrys’, right?

Are you here to see Chet?

Mrs. Danburry?

No.

Sorry.

Thank you, Chris.

I’m Mrs. Danburry.

You must be Knox.

Yes.

Back by 9?

Please, come on in.

Chris, come on.

What are you doing?

Chet, I’m coming.

Knox.

How are you?

Joe Danburry.

Nice to meet you, sir.

Well, he’s the spitting image of his father, isn’t he?

How is he?

Come on in.

Chris.

He’s great.

He just did a big case for GM.

I know where you’re headed.

I’m coming.

Like father, like son, huh?

Yes.

Bishop to queen six.

All right, I think that’s good.

Another game?

Just replace these numbers here with X.

For X and Y.

Of course.

Of course, so, what’s the problem?

Do you think I can get in there?

You’ve been hogging it all day.

How was dinner?

Huh?

How was dinner?

Terrible.

Awful.

Why?

What happened?

Tonight I met the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life.

Are you crazy?

What’s wrong with that?

She’s practically engaged To Chet Danburry.

The guy could eat a football.

Too bad.

Too bad?

It’s worse than too bad, Pitts, it’s a tragedy.

A girl this beautiful in love with such a jerk.

All the good ones go for jerks, you know that.

Yeah, forget her.

Open your trig book and try and figure out Problem 5.

I can’t just forget her, Cameron.

And I certainly can’t think about trig.

We got it.

Turn that up.

All right, gentlemen.

Five minutes.

Let’s go.

Did you see her naked?

Very funny, Dalton.

That wouldn’t be a radio in your lap, would it, Mr. Pitts?

No, sir.

Science experiment.

Radar.

Gentlemen, open your texts to Page 21 of the introduction.

Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled “Understanding Poetry”?

“Understanding Poetry, by Dr. J.Evans P.Ritchard, PhD.

To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions.

One: How artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered?

And two: How important is that objective?

Question one rates the poem’s perfection.

Question two rates its importance.

And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem’s greatness becomes a relatively simple matter.

If the poem’s score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph, and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.

A sonnet by Byron might score high on the vertical, but only average on the horizontal.

A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great.

As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method.

As your ability to evaluate poems in this manner grows, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry.

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.

Now, I want you to rip out that page.

Go on.

Rip out the entire page.

You heard me.

Rip it out.

Rip it out.

Go on.

Rip it out.

Thank you, Mr. Dalton.

Tell you what, don’t just tear out that page, tear out the entire introduction.

I want it gone, history.

Leave nothing of it.

Rip it out.

Rip.

Be gone, J.Evans Pritchard, Ph.D.

Rip, shred, tear.

Rip it out.

I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard.

We’ll perforate it, put it on a roll.

It’s not the Bible.

You’re not gonna go to hell for this.

Go on.

Make a clean tear.

I want nothing left of it.

We shouldn’t be doing this.

Rip, rip, rip.

Rip it out.

Rip.

Rip, rip.

Yeah.

Rip it out.

What the hell is going on here?

I don’t hear enough rips.

Mr. Keating.

Mr. McAllister.

I’m sorry.

I didn’t know you were here.

I am.

Ah.

So you are.

Excuse me.

Keep ripping, gentlemen.

This is a battle, a war.

And the casualties could be your hearts and souls.

Thank you, Mr. Dalton.

Armies of academics going forward measuring poetry.

No.

We’ll not have that here.

No more of Mr. J.Evans Pritchard.

Now, in my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again.

You will learn to savor words and language.

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

Now, I see that look in Mr. Pitts’ eye, like 19th-century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school.

Right?

Maybe.

Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking,”Yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions.

I have a little secret for you.

Huddle up.

Huddle up.

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?

For what we are about to receive,

may the Lord make us truly grateful.

Amen.

Quite an interesting class you gave today, Mr. Keating.

Sorry if I shocked you, Mr. McAllister.

There’s no need to apologize.

It was very fascinating.

Misguided though it was.

You think so?

You take a big risk by encouraging them to become artists, John.

When they realize that they’re not Rembrandts, Shakespeares or Mozarts, they’ll hate you for it.

We’re not talking artists, George, we’re talking free thinkers.

Free thinkers at 17?

Funny, I never pegged you as a cynic.

Not a cynic.

A realist.

Show me the heart Unfettered by foolish dreams

And I’ll show you a happy man.

But only in their dreams Can men be truly free

‘Twas always thus And always thus will be.

Tennyson?

No, Keating.

Hey, I found his senior annual in the library.

Listen to this: Captain of the soccer team,

editor of the school annual, Cambridge bound,

thigh man, and the Dead Poets Society.

“Man most likely to do anything.

”

Thigh man.

Mr. K was a hell-raiser.

What’s the Dead Poets Society?

Is there a picture?

Nothing, no other mention of it.

That boy there, see me after lunch.