The Presence of Transcendentalism in the Dead Poets Society 

Transcendentalism has to do with the idea, that in order to understand nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process which governors the nature of experience. At Welton Academy, Mr. Keating educates his students through transcendental ideas. Welton Academy is a strict school and Mr. Keating gives the boys a new perspective on the way of learning and themselves as an individual. The movie the Dead Poet Society, depicts the transcendental truths of self-reliance and non-conformity.

Emerson urges people to create their own life and be themselves, rather than conforming to the ways of everyone else. He says, 'The world is nothing, the man is all…' (R42). With the idea of individuality, Emerson explains that people need to be themselves and do what they want to do. In Dead Poet Society, Neil wants to act in a play outside of school, but his father will not allow it. The boys in this movie have a lot of pressure to be a certain man their parents want them to be. The school is strict and rigorous and creates a figure of a man who needs to be the perfect son, just like their fathers. The Academy gives the boys no time or opportunity to explore different things, like a musical. They have a standard where everything is taught the same and nothing can be different. However, when Mr. Keating comes into the school, things become different. Mr. Keating teaches the boys to “Seize the Day!” and to live their lives the way they want and not the way their parents or professors want them to. Mr. Keating chooses to teach not word for word out of the textbook, but to teach poetry in a way that the boys can actively learn it, conforming against Welton Academy. Mr. Keating teaches transcendental views like Emerson, teaching the students that if one wants to be an individual, they must be a nonconformist who acts for themselves. When the students stand on their desks, Mr. Keating teaches them that they should have confidence in themselves and that each one of them can be a leader. Thoreau says, “A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford.” (R53). He explains that what it really means to be rich is to find beauty in symbol and everyday things. Life can be sustained on such little. Mr. Keating uses this idea by allowing the kids to know that it is not all about getting the job their fathers have, but more about being yourself and choosing your own path, rather than allowing others to choose for you. Emerson says, “He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature and in the present, above time.” (R52). Emerson stresses that “you” are in charge and allow one to be in control of oneself. All that matters are the here and now. It is important to live in the moment and do things for yourself. Being in the present and being with yourself is what can make a man happy. The boys at the beginning of the movie allow their parents and professors to take control of them.

When the boys find the old yearbook and create their club, they conform against the society norms and learn to express themselves through poetry in a fun way. Thoreau says, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” (R65). A person in Thoreau’s eyes should live simply in order to live a good life. If the boys stay following the conformist ideas of the school, reading the textbook word for word and never choosing what they want to do, they will never be able to say they have lived. When the boys are able to go in the woods, here is where they find their true selves and learn what poetry really means, rather than the textbook definition. Thoreau claims, “We do not ride on the railroad… it rides upon us.” (R66). Everyone is going to die; however we can use this as good news because we are alive and not dead yet. Everyone on this earth that is alive, is able to praise to be connected and alive with the universal soul pervading us. The boys are in charge of their own life. A lot of times society makes it seem that one always must be doing something and cannot just be, “employed in watching the seasons.” (Thoreau). Society depicts this idea that one is not doing anything if we are just living. The expectations for the boys from their parents and school is that they must be studying rather than seeing girls and going to play sports, etc., because in the parents and teachers’ eyes, they have to be doing something that will lead to a known successful future.

At Welton Academy, the professors and parents teach the children that non-conformity to society is not an option. The minute the children walk into the school, they are set in a standard to be the best of the best in academics. Todd Anderson was a shy kid who had a lot of pressure on himself because of his older brother. Todd was hesitant at the beginning when the boys began to break the rules and step out of their comfort zone, however when he got involved, he realized there was more to him than meeting the expectations of his brother, and he was finally able to find who he was rather than who his brother was. The transcendentalist ideas that Mr. Keating teaches the students is something they will not forget. The students in his class will now know the meaning and importance of poetry because they were able to interactively learn what it truly is. These boys became non-conformists who went against the views of society, their parents, and professors, and choose to be who they wanted to be. At Welton Academy, the students are never taking a new route, but following the same one for years. They will all become the same people, just like their fathers. However, when the Dead Poet Society club was created it allowed these boys to express themselves and be who they wanted to be. Mr. Keating showed his students that they could outstrip the conformist lifestyle by reaching transcendentalism.