Summary
The film begins with a shot of a painting of young boys in suits looking in various directions, and pans to a real young boy having his necktie tied for him. A musician retrieves his bagpipes from a suitcase as the young boy is photographed alongside a second boy. The film's title comes onscreen beside a lit candle. A procession of teenage boys carrying banners enters a large, crowded sanctuary, led by the two younger boys and the bagpipe player, with an old man taking up the rear. They process to the front of the hall and take their seats. The old man lights the candle held by a boy in the front row, who uses the flame to light the candle of the boy beside him, and so on.
Headmaster Nolan takes the podium and welcomes everyone to Welton Academy. He asks the students to stand and recite the school’s four pillars, which they do: “Tradition. Honor. Discipline. Excellence.” Nolan boasts of the school’s growth and prowess over the decades, including the high number of past graduates who’ve matriculated to the Ivy League. He declares Welton the “best preparatory school in the United States,” to great applause. He then introduces the new English teacher, John Keating, an alumnus of Welton who has been teaching at a school in London.
After the ceremony, crowds of students, teachers, and parents are seen mingling outside with suitcases. Todd Anderson and his parents shake the hand of Mr. Nolan, who reminds Todd of the big shoes he must fill now that Todd’s older brother has graduated. Nolan then shakes the hand of Neil Perry and his father, telling the former that he expects great things from him. Teary-eyed young boys say goodbye to their parents, and some of them complain that they don’t want to live at Welton.
A bell rings over an establishing shot of the lake by which Welton is situated, with the school’s campus just beyond it. In the courtyard of one of the buildings, Neil introduces himself to Todd, his new roommate. Inside their dormitory, parents help their sons move in to their rooms. Richard Cameron comes to Neil in his room and says he heard his new roommate Todd is a “real stiff,” only to have Todd overhear this as he enters. Neil tells Todd not to worry about Cameron. Todd and Neil are then joined by Charles Dalton, Knox Overstreet, and Stephen Meeks, Neil’s friends. Together they recite their own version of the four pillars: “Tragedy. Horror. Decadence. Excrement.” The boys form a study group, to which they invite Todd, and then are joined by Neil’s father, who tells Neil that he’s taking too many extracurriculars and needs to drop working for the school annual. When Neil protests, his father takes him into the hall, reprimands him for disputing him in public, and tells him that he must follow orders as long as he’s under their roof. When he leaves, Knox and Charles suggest that Neil stand up to his father, which Neil scoffs at, accusing them of having rich, successful parents that they obey just the same. They all agree to meet later for their study group.
In the next scene, a bell tolls to signal the beginning of classes. Enormous flocks of birds are seen taking to the skies by the lake and over fields. In parallel, boys flock to class down a flight of stairs as an older teacher reprimands them for their rambunctiousness. The scene moves to a chemistry class where the professor assigns the students a substantial amount of homework. Next, a Latin teacher runs the boys through a series of monotonous conjugations. Then, a stern trigonometry professor warns that students will be penalized for any homework assignments they fail to turn in.
The students then file into John Keating’s English class. Keating comes in without a jacket, whistling, and moves immediately from his office out the classroom door, beckoning for the boys to follow. They gather in a new room filled with photos of Welton alumni, where Keating tells the boys that they may refer to him by name or as “O captain, my captain,” a quote by Walt Whitman about Abraham Lincoln. He runs the students through Robert Herrick’s, “To the Virgins, to make much of Time,” which talks of gathering rosebuds before they die. Keating likens the poem’s theme to “carpe diem,” Latin for “seize the day,” and explains that each of them is a mortal destined for death. He has them observe the pictures of now dead alumni on the walls, imploring the boys to “make their lives extraordinary” and seize the day while they can.
When class is done, the boys discuss their odd first English class in the hall. Next, the scene shifts to a bathroom, where the boys wash up for dinner. Knox tells them all that he’s having dinner at the Danburys', a notable alumni family with ties to his father. Neil reminds Todd of their study group meeting that night, but Todd declines the invitation, citing other work he needs to do. Back in his room, Neil writes “Seize the day” on a piece of paper at his desk, but then crumples it up and pulls out one of his textbooks.
In the next shot, Dr. Hager accompanies Knox off campus. A shot of a striking red sunset over a wheat field transitions to the two pulling up to the Danburys' on a street of large houses. Knox rings the doorbell and is stunned to see a beautiful girl around his age answer. He introduces himself and awkwardly mistakes the girl for Mrs. Danbury, which makes her laugh. Mrs. Danbury herself appears and ushers Knox in, assuring Dr. Hager that Knox will be back by 9. The girl is called upstairs by their son, Chet, as Mr. Danbury greets Knox and asks about his father.
The next scene features the boys gathered in a Welton common room. Some boys throw darts; Meeks and Pitts play with a homemade radio. The others are studying. Knox comes in and says that the dinner was terrible: he met “the most beautiful girl [he] has ever seen in [his] entire life,” but she’s dating Chet Danbury, who he calls a jerk. Cameron suggests he forget her and focus on studying trig, which Knox protests. A teacher comes in and ushers the boys to bed. He accuses Meeks and Pitts of having a radio, which they explain is a “science experiment.”
Analysis
From the first shot, Welton Academy and its faculty are portrayed as adhering to the strictest standards of tradition and discipline, from the dark student uniforms to the formidable four pillars: Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. The lighting of the young boy’s candle by the old man symbolizes the passing of knowledge and tradition from one generation to the next, a reflection of Welton’s belief in teaching what is tried and true. This immediately contrasts with the main characters’ behavior when they’re alone: being goofy and laughing with one another, and reciting their own vulgar version of the four pillars. The contrast between what Welton upholds and the boys’ natural adolescent behavior foretells a looming potential conflict.
This is nowhere more apparent than during Neil’s initial confrontation with his father. The latter is quickly established as a callous, no-nonsense man who makes his son’s decisions for him. At the slightest protest on Neil’s part, his father is quick to anger, and reprimands him for what he deems public disrespect. It’s made clear that Neil’s family is not as affluent as many of his classmates’, and the initial encounter between him and his father strikes the tense tone that their relationship will maintain for the rest of the film.
The montage of scenes depicting the disciplined and boring nature of most Welton classes serves to highlight the uniqueness of Mr. Keating’s first class with the boys. Jacketless and whistling, Mr. Keating wastes no time in conveying that his teaching methods may differ from those of the school’s other professors, particularly by holding his first class outside of his classroom, a physical representation of the fact that he doesn’t confine himself to Welton’s strict expectations. The boys’ generally pleased and intrigued reactions to him indicate a desire for this kind of liberation and a detour from the everyday rigidity of Welton life.
The film chooses not to follow any one Welton boy in particular, but focuses instead on several, namely Todd, Neil, and Knox. We get an example of this when the story breaks away to follow Knox to the Danburys' house, where he meets Chris Noel. Chris becomes a goal of sorts for Knox, an important notion in considering the individual impact that Keating has on his students. Some he inspires to write, others to act; with Knox, he will inspire him to be brave and win the heart of the girl he loves. Knox's initial infatuation with Chris is the first step in this story arc.
The shot of the stunning red sunset just prior to Knox's dinner at the Danbury's is one of many establishing or transitionary shots featuring the natural beauty that surrounds Welton (which, in real life, was a prep school named St. Andrew's in Delaware). Other shots include the snow-covered lake beside the school, as well as the later scene when Knox rides his bike through a huge flock of geese as they take flight. Dead Poets Society's cinematographer was John Seale, whose other film credits include Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). For his work on Dead Poets Society, Seale garnered a 1989 nomination for a Best Cinematography award by the British Society of Cinematographers.
