Dead Poets Society Active Viewing Guide
Name: ____________________
Dead Poets Society / Released: 1989 / 128 minutes / Drama
Directions: Begin answering these 25 questions as you actively
view the film; do not wait until the film is over. Only Part 5 should
wait until the end. Parts 3 and 5 are the most important, so please
be thorough. For your convenience, a list of characters is provided,
as well as memorable quotations from the film. Be prepared to
discuss in class.
Part One: Setting
1. What is the time period? _________________What type of school do the boys attend?
Part Two: Characters
Write a brief description of each character. Note the character’s defining characteristics and
phrases. Also, look for any connection between the character’s name and his characteristics.
2. Mr. John Keating
How is he different from the boys’ other teachers?
a.
b.
c.
3. Neil Perry
4. Todd Anderson
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5. Charlie Dalton (“Nuwanda”)
6. Knox Overstreet
7. Stephen Meeks
8. Cameron
Part Three: Symbolism.
Look for the following symbols in the movie. Identify what each could represent.
9. The ceremony (passing of the candle from one student to another) during the convocation
10. Crown of thorns (worn by Puck during A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
11. Camera shots of birds flying
12. Todd’s birthday desk set
13. Snow
14. Open window
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Part Four: Plot
15. What is the Dead Poets’ Society?
Who started it originally?
Why do the boys start it again?
16. How does Neil Perry rebel against his father?
17. How does Mr. Keating get Todd Anderson to come out of his shell?
18. What point does Mr. Keating make by having the boys walk in the courtyard?
19. What prank does Charlie Dalton play?
How does Mr. Keating respond?
20. What is Mr. Keating’s advice to Neil Perry?
Does Neil follow it?
21. What does Knox do to express his feelings to Chris?
Is he successful in the end?
22. How did the poetry book make it into Neil’s room? (Did Keating put it there?) And if so, why,
after telling the boys that the present administration would not look favorably on it, would Keating
do that?
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Part Five: Deeper Thinking
23. What happens to Neil after the play when his parents take him home? Who takes the blame and
why? Would Neil still have done this if Mr. Keating had never come into his life? Consider
multiple perspectives here.
24. Who was really the bravest of Keating’s boys? Who was a coward? Be explicit and support your
answers.
25. Why do the boys stand on their desks at the end of the film?
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CHARACTERS
ACTORS
John Keating
Neil Perry
Todd Anderson
Knox Overstreet
Charlie Dalton
Richard Cameron
Steven Meeks
Gerard Pitts
Mr. Nolan
Mr. Perry
Mrs. Perry
McAllister
Dr. Hager
Chemistry teacher
Hopkins
Joe Danburry
Mrs. Danburry
Ginny Danbury
Chet Danburry
Chris Noel
Gloria
Tina
Steve
Bubba
Directing Teacher
Actor/Fairy
Titania
Mr. Anderson
Mrs. Anderson
Bagpiper
Mr. Dalton
Lester
Stick
Spaz
Welton Professor
Welton Vicar
Gym Teacher
Father of Spaz
Dormitory Porter
Beans
Shroom
Jonas
Dewey
Ace
Woodsie
Sam
Robin Williams (You may recognize him from Good Will Hunting.)
Robert Sean Leonard (You may recognize him from House.)
Ethan Hawke
Josh Charles
Gale Hansen
Dylan Kussman
Allelon Ruggiero
James Waterson
Norman Lloyd
Kurtwood Smith
Carla Belver
Leon Pownall
George Martin
Joe Aufiery
Matt Carey
Kevin Cooney
Jane Moore
Lara Flynn Boyle
Colin Irving
Alexandra Powers
Melora Waters
Welker White
Steve Mathios
Alan Pottinger
Pamela Burrell
Allison Hedges
Christine D’Ercole
John Cunningham
Debra Mooney
John Martin Bradley
Charles Lord
Kurt Leitner
Richard Stites
James J. Christy
Hoover Sutton
Simon Mein
Ashton W. Richards
Robert Gleason
Bill Rowe
Robert J. Zigler III
Nicholas K. Gilholl
Jonas Stiklorius
Craig Johnson
Chris Hull
Jason Woody
Sam Stegeman
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Memorable Quotes (for Discussion and to Help Support Your Responses)
(They aren’t in chronological order. Sorry.)
John Keating: 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.
John Keating: O Captain, my Captain. Who knows where that comes from? Anybody? Not a clue? It's
from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can either call me
Mr. Keating, or if you're slightly more daring, O Captain my Captain.
John Keating: 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?
John Keating: Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.
John Keating: There's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands
which is called for.
John Keating: I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.
Nolan: At these boys' age? Not on your life!
Neil: For the first time in my whole life, I know what I wanna do! And for the first time, I'm gonna do
it! Whether my father wants me to or not! Carpe diem!
John Keating: Language was developed for one endeavor, and that is - Mr. Anderson? Come on, are
you a man or an amoeba?
[pause]
John Keating: Mr. Perry?
Neil: To communicate.
John Keating: No! To woo women!
Neil: [quoting Henry David Thoreau] "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I
wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
Dalton: I'll second that.
Neil: "To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not
lived."
John Keating: Close your eyes, close your eyes! Close 'em! Now, describe what you see.
Todd Anderson: Uh, I-I close my eyes.
John Keating: Yes.
Todd Anderson: Uh, and this image floats beside me.
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John Keating: A sweaty-toothed madman.
Todd Anderson: A sweaty-toothed madman with a stare that pounds my brain.
John Keating: Oh, that's *excellent*! Now, give him action - make him do something!
Todd Anderson: H-His hands reach out and choke me.
John Keating: That's it! Wonderful, wonderful!
Todd Anderson: And all the time he's mumbling.
John Keating: What's he mumbling?
Todd Anderson: Mumbling truth.
John Keating: Yeah, yes.
Todd Anderson: Truth like-like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.
John Keating: [some of the class start to laugh] Forget them, forget them! Stay with the blanket. Tell
me about that blanket!
Todd Anderson: Y-Y-You push it, stretch it, it'll never be enough. You kick at it, beat it, it'll never
cover any of us. From the moment we enter crying t-to the moment we leave dying, it'll just cover your
face as you wail and cry and scream.
[long pause then class applauds]
John Keating: Don't you forget this.
Neil: [Neil finds Todd sitting alone on the roof] Hey!
Todd Anderson: Hey.
Neil: What's going on?
Todd Anderson: Nothin'. Today's my birthday.
Neil: Is today your birthday? Happy birthday!
Todd Anderson: Thanks.
Neil: What'd you get?
Todd Anderson: [indicating the desk set lying beside him] My parents gave me this.
Neil: Isn't this the same desk set...
Todd Anderson: Yeah. Yeah, they gave me the same thing as last year.
Neil: Oh.
Todd Anderson: Oh.
Neil: Maybe they thought you needed another one.
Todd Anderson: Maybe they weren't thinking about anything at all. The funny thing is about this is, II didn't even like it the first time.
Neil: Todd, I think you're underestimating the value of this desk set.
[He picks it up]
Neil: I mean, who would want a football or a baseball or...
Todd Anderson: Or a car.
Neil: Or a car, if they could have a desk set as wonderful as this one? I mean, if-if I were ever going to
buy a desk set, twice, I would probably buy this one. Both times! In fact, its shape is... it's rather
aerodynamic, isn't it?
[walks to the edge of the roof]
Neil: You can feel it. This desk set wants to fly!
[hands it to Todd]
Neil: Todd? The world's first unmanned flying desk set.
[Todd throws it off the roof - papers fly everywhere and things crash and clatter to the ground]
Neil: Oh my! Well, I wouldn't worry. You'll get another one next year.
[Keating stands on his desk]
John Keating: Why do I stand up here? Anybody?
Dalton: To feel taller!
John Keating: No!
[Dings a bell with his foot]
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John Keating: Thank you for playing Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we
must constantly look at things in a different way.
[after hearing "The Introduction to Poetry"]
John Keating: 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!"
John Keating: Boys, 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: Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are
unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go,
[imitating a goat]
John Keating: "that's baaaaad." Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the
one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
John Keating: I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP OVER THE ROOFTOPS OF THE WORLD.
[last lines]
John Keating: Thank you, boys. Thank you.
Knox: C'mon, Chris, just give me one chance. If you don't like me after tonight I'll stay away forever.
Chris Noel: Uh-huh.
Knox: I promise. Dead Poets Honor. You come with me tonight and then if you don't wanna see me
again I swear I'll bow out.
Chris Noel: You know what would happen if Chet found out?
Knox: He won't know anything. We'll sit in the back and sneak away as soon as it's over.
Chris Noel: And I suppose you would promise that this would be the end of it.
Knox: Dead Poets Honor.
Chris Noel: What is that?
Knox: My word.
Neil Perry: I just talked to my father. He's making me quit the play at Henley Hall. Acting's
everything to me. I- But he doesn't know! He- I can see his point; we're not a rich family, like
Charlie's. We- But he's planning the rest of my life for me, and I- He's never asked me what I want!
John Keating: Have you ever told your father what you just told me? About your passion for acting?
You ever showed him that?
Neil Perry: I can't.
John Keating: Why not?
Neil Perry: I can't talk to him this way.
John Keating: Then you're acting for him, too. You're playing the part of the dutiful son. Now, I know
this sounds impossible, but you have to talk to him. You have to show him who you are, what your
heart is!
Neil Perry: I know what he'll say! He'll tell me that acting's a whim and I should forget it. They're
counting on me; he'll just tell me to put it out of my mind for my own good.
John Keating: You are not an indentured servant! It's not a whim for you, you prove it to him by your
conviction and your passion! You show that to him, and if he still doesn't believe you - well, by then,
you'll be out of school and can do anything you want.
Neil Perry: No. What about the play? The show's tomorrow night!
John Keating: Then you have to talk to him before tomorrow night.
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Neil Perry: Isn't there an easier way?
John Keating: No.
Neil Perry: [laughs] I'm trapped!
John Keating: No you're not.
[Neil's father has just driven him home from his performance in A Midsummer Night's Dream.]
Mr. Perry: We're trying very hard to understand why it is that you insist on defying us. Whatever the
reason, we're not gonna let you ruin your life. Tomorrow I'm withdrawing you from Welton and
enrolling you in Braighton Military School. You're going to Harvard, and you're gonna be a doctor.
Neil Perry: But, that's ten more years! Father, that's a *lifetime*!
Mr. Perry: Oh, stop it! Don't be so dramatic! You make it sound like a prison term! You don't
understand, Neil! You have opportunities that I never even dreamt of, and I am not going to let you
waste them!
Neil Perry: I've got to tell you what I feel!
Mrs. Perry: We've been so worried about you!
Mr. Perry: *What*? What? Tell me what you feel! What is it? Is it more of this, this *acting*
business? Because you can forget that! What?
Neil Perry: [pauses] Nothing.
Mr. Perry: [pauses] Nothing? Well, then, let's go to bed.
Nolan: Free thinkers at 17?
John Keating: Mr. Pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first stanza of the
poem you find there.
Pitts: [reading the poem title] "To the Virgins To Make Much of Time"?
John Keating: Yes, that's the one. Somewhat appropriate, isn't it?
Hopkins: [reading his poem] "The cat sat on the mat"
John Keating: Congratulations, Mr. Hopkins. You have the first poem to ever have a negative score
on the Pritchard scale.
[the students are climbing onto Keating's desk to see a new perspective]
John Keating: Now, don't just walk off the edge like lemmings! Look around you!
Neil: I was good. I was really good.
Dalton: I'm exercising the right not to walk.
Neil: If I don't ask him, at least I won't be disobeying him.
John Keating: [the class hesitates to rip out the introduction page] It's not the Bible, you're not gonna
go to Hell for this.
Chet Danburry: Next time I see you, you die.
Richard Cameron: You can't save Keating, but you can save yourselves!
Nolan: Gentlemen, what are the Four Pillars?
Crowd: Tradition. Honor. Discipline. Excellence.
Dalton: Gentlemen, what are the Four Pillars?
Dalton, Meeks, Neil, Knox, Todd Anderson: Travesty. Horror. Decadence. Excrement.
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