by Suborno Barua (orcid: 0009-0007-3345-4075)

Dead Poets Society, published in 1988, is a novelisation of the movie directed by Peter Weir. Later, Nancy H. Kleinbaum wrote the novel, inspired by the movie that became renowned for its popularity among teenagers. The story explores the tension between individuality and tradition. Tradition, that binds our perspectives, that puts us under the shadow of expectations and individuality that makes us the captains of our ships. ”Carpe Diem” or ”Seize the Day” is the motto of the novel that liberates the suppressed souls of the story through John Keating, an English teacher of the Welton Academy completely untraditional and unorthodox of contemporary teaching methods. The novel explores the conflict of social values and humanism and ends with a note that those who value poetry are truly living and others are deliberately trying to survive. 

The story is set in Vermont in 1959 at the Welton Academy, revered for its fame in maintaining excellence and discipline. The four pillars that guide the school are tradition, honour, discipline, and excellence, which are vigorously upheld by the academy’s dean, Gale Nolan. The story develops with Knox, Charlie, Neil, Meeks, Anderson, and John Keating in their new journey in the institution. Ambitious about their sons achieving something greater than ever, the parents leave their sons in the academy to be shaped into successful men. The teachers and parents act like blacksmiths hammering molten young hearts before it settles down. The shaping takes place in the name of principles at the academy, a mould that produces desolate men. The students in the novel were empty souls chained with the responsibility of pleasing parents and society. 

The novel begins with a hall full of anxious students and proud parents. It talks about a bunch of young characters. One of them is Neil Perry, who is the most extravagant and proactive character among others. His roommate Jeffrey Anderson was the opposite; he was shy, afraid, and anxious of mistakenly speaking out words. Steven Meeks was a pundit in Greek and Latin, and Charlie Dalton was adept in mischief. Knox Overstreet was the teenager unable to control adolescent emotions and feelings. The lives of the five students begin with boring, continuous lectures, labs, and hectic homework. Everything of their daily lives was limited by a schedule, and punishment was always available if anyone failed to maintain academic norms. 

When the souls of the students were decapitated, their feelings numbed, and their emotions dilapidated, Mr. Keating, the English teacher, arrives as a saviour. His unorthodox teaching methods amazed the students. His words and actions surprised readers as well. The author speaks many quotes, poems, and motivational phrases through Mr. Keating. The most influential line for me is ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may; old time is still flying; and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.’ (To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, 2024). Mr. Keating, with his student-friendly teaching style, embraces the students from their personal hardships and challenges the students to embrace the power of poetry, literature, and critical thinking. Excited and alive from the burden of monotonous studies, the students, particularly Neil, find that John Keating was a member of a secret club called Dead Poets Society when he used to study here. The boys, resurrected from the grave of expectations and ambitions of concerned parents and teachers, gathered daily in a cave to read poetry late at night. The poetry in the cave depicted the attachment of nature to relieve the materialistic burden of human society and artificial tradition that sucked the life out of the pupils. The author used nature delicately and wittingly to articulate the hidden mysteries of the creations that affected human lives more intricately than other materials. The beauty of poetry eventually fertilised the young minds, and flowers started to bloom in their hearts. Those boys brought to be moulded into beings demandable in class-concerned societies were given the authority to explore life. ‘Suck out all the marrow of life’, Mr. Keating says, inspiring students to enjoy the present moment and to write about their own lives. Neil, being inspired the most from the words of Mr. Keating, goes on to participate in an audition for a drama, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ only to find out that his father wouldn’t let him act in a drama. Mr. Perry is concerned about the future of his only son and wants to cross every extremity to secure a well-furnished and reputed career for his son. Unfortunately, Mr. Perry fails to understand, like every parent, the feelings of his son. Neil wanted to be an actor; after his father found out that he acted in a drama, it was decided that Neil Perry would be sent to Harvard to become a doctor.

The story has a tragic end, giving a meaningful and realistic finish to the story and the dreams of teenagers like Neil. But the seeds Mr. Keating with his teaching has sown inside the hearts of the students shall reap bountiful life experiences. There is one instance where John Keating succeeds and receives the appropriate adulation from his students, who stand above their seats and yell his nickname, “O Captain, My Captain,” right in front of the school dean.

N. H. Kleinbaum in the novel has explored the lives of teenagers suffocating inside the prisons we call schools, where the traditional way of teaching nips the buds of promising talents. The novel’s shortcomings are found in its succinct depictions of the characters’ mental states, certain events that were written in excessive hurry, and several sensuous and sexual moments that need criticism. The glorification of seizing the day is problematic if misinterpreted, and it is evident that some teenage readers might get that wrong. You can do whatever you like, but not by harming others and yourself, as Mr. Keating also reminds them; suck out all the marrow of life until you choke on bone. The descriptions of the events are bland and fail to capture the intensity of the events. The narration of the novel is mostly conversational and is divided into several chapters. The writing style of the author lacks to build up the environment to meet the emotional and sentimental dilemma the characters are going through. It is difficult for readers to feel the events from a deeply emotional level.

Teenagers should find this book interesting and inspiring that talks about their emotions and gives them an opportunity to live as they wish. Individual choices are greater than imposed ones that make our lives uncomfortable. And poetry can always be the exit of confined emotions. The poetry and quotes totally set up the novel for a feast of literature. The setting of the novel being in an academy should resonate with the lives of students, which makes reading the book more intimate. Though this novel has been copied from the screenplay of the film Dead Poets Society written by Tom Schulman, words are more powerful to ignite the imagination of the events and characters more vividly and more colourful than the film. Making the most out of the limited life before ‘fertilising the daffodils’ will be the encouragement readers will receive by reading this book.

References:

Kleinbaum, N. H. (1989). Dead poets’ society. Bantam. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. (2024, June 22). The Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46546/to-the-virgins-to-make-much-of-time

For Citation/Reference (APA):

Barua, S. (2025). Book Review of the ‘Dead Poets Society.’ JMAG. (2025, September 01). https://jmag.jaamir.com/book-review-of-the-dead-poets-society/