Sunshine English Course I – Reading
Dead Poets Society
A new English teacher, John Keating, comes to a famous boarding
school in New England, the United States. Through his unique
teaching style he becomes respected by his students.
“In other words Carpe Diem in Latin. Does anyone know what that
50 means?”
“Carpe Diem,” Meeks, the Latin scholar, said. “Seize the day.”
“Very good, Mr. ...?”
While you read, think about how unusual his views are.
“Meeks.”
“Seize the day,” Keating repeated. “Why does the poet write these
5 The new English teacher, wearing a shirt and tie, sat at the front of the
55 lines?”
room, staring out the window. The boys settled down and waited,
“Because he's in a hurry?” one student called out as the others
thankful for a moment to relax. Keating continued to stare out the
snickered.
window. The boys started to make noises.
Finally Keating stood, picked up a yardstick, and started strolling up
10 and down the aisles. He stopped and stared into the face of one of the
boys. “Don't be embarrassed,” he said kindly to Todd the blushing
boy.
Suddenly he jumped dramatically onto his desk and turned to face the
class. “‘O Captain! My Captain!'” he called energetically, then looked
15 around the room. “Who knows where that's from? Anybody? No?” He
looked sharply at the silent boys. No one raised a hand. “It was written,
my young scholars,” he said patiently, “by a poet named Walt
Whitman about Abraham Lincoln. In this class you may call me as
either Mr. Keating or ‘O Captain! My Captain!'”
20 He jumped down from the desk and started strolling the aisles again,
speaking as he moved. “So that I become the source of as few rumors
“No, no, no! It's because we're food for worms, boys!” Keating
shouted. “Because we're only going to experience a limited number of
60 springs, summers and falls.”
“One day, though it is hard to believe, each and every one of us is
going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die!” He paused dramatically.
“Stand up and look carefully at the faces of the boys who attended this
school sixty or seventy years ago. Don't be scared; go look at them.”
65 The boys got up and walked to the class pictures on the honor-room
walls. They looked at faces of young men, staring out at them from the
past.
“They're not that different from any of you, are they? Hope in their
eyes, just like yours. They believe themselves destined for wonderful
70 things, just like many of you. Well, where are those smiles now, boys?
What of the hope?”
as possible, let me tell you that, yes, I was a student at this school
The boys stared at the photos, their faces serious and reflective.
many years ago, and no, at that time I did not possess this popular
Keating walked swiftly around the room, pointing from photo to
personality.”
photo.
25 “However, should you choose to follow my manner, it can only help
75 “Did most of them not wait until it was too late before making their
your grade. Pick up your textbooks from the back, gentlemen, and let's
lives into even one piece of what they could do? In chasing success,
move to the Honor Room.”
did they not waste their boyhood dreams? Most of those gentlemen
Keating headed to the door and walked out. The students sat, silent,
not sure what to do.
30 “We'd better go with him,” Neil said, leading the class to the back of
the room. They each gathered their books, and proceeded to the
oak-paneled Welton Honor Room.
Keating walked around the room as the boys entered. He studied the
walls, which were lined with class pictures dating back to the 1800s.
35 Trophies of every description filled shelves and glass cases.
When everyone was seated, Keating turned toward the class.
“Mister ....”----Keating looked down at his class list----“... Pitts,” he
said. “Open your text, Pitts, to page 542 and read for us the first part
of the poem,” Keating instructed.
40 Pitts turned the pages of his book. “‘To the Virgins, To Make Much of
Time'?” he asked.
“That's the one,” Keating said, as the boys in the class laughed quietly.
Yes, sir,” Pitts said. He cleared his throat.
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
45 Old time is still a flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.”
He stopped. “‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,'” Keating repeated.
are fertilizing daffodils now! However, if you get very close, boys,
you can hear them whisper. Go ahead,” he urged, “lean in. Go on.
80 Hear it? Can you?” The boys were quiet, some of them leaned
hesitantly toward the photographs. “Carpe Diem,” Keating whispered
loudly. “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”
Todd, Neil, Knox, Charlie, Cameron, Meeks, Pitts, and the other boys
all stared into the pictures on the walls, lost in thoughts that were
85 interrupted by the sudden bell.
“Weird,” Pitts said as he gathered up his books.
“But different,” Neil said thoughtfully.
“Frightening,” Knox added as he headed out of the room.
“You think he'll test us on that?” Cameron asked, looking confused.
90 “Oh, come on, Cameron,” Charlie laughed, “don't you get anything?”
This was their first day with Keating. It was a most memorable day for
Todd, who would grow and change a lot later. Keating is no longer
with the school, but Todd still believes firmly in the legacy Keating
left.