in the movie "Dead Poets Society"...?

T

t.humph_11

New member
hello,

ive watched the dead poets society, and this really stumped me. why does mr. keating get his students to call him (if they feel daring enough) "o captain, my captain"? & what relation does it have with the film in general?
i know its an old poem that he loved but i just dont see the significance in doing this.

thankyou :)
 
I'm impressed. It was an all around good film. Perhaps I'm biased - Robert Frost's poem, A Road Not Taken, was quoted - yet so many other things were as well.

It's not about poetry. It's about how you look at the world. How you look, how others look... how you think, how you feel... and a warning to never, ever become conformist (though being conformist about walking is perhaps slightly exaggerated). Never become conformist - always make up your own mind.
 
The relation of using Walt Whitman's poem to the movie is simply a pedagogical (teaching) tool. Teachers want to help their students learn to think "outside the box" - "beyond themselves" and Robin Williams' character did just that when he invited them to call him "O Captain, My Captain" rather than the usual "Mr. Keating." In the use of this name, Mr. Keating gets the boys interested in poetry and their journey with him begins. ;-)
 
keating was a gay prof and was seducing the young boys. by getting them to call him captain he was getting them closeerr to his wishes to meet outisde in the woods
 
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