110 likes | 642 Views
Prepare for Dead Poets’ Society. Keyword preparation Romanticism Realism Walt Whitman Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson . Pre-watch questions What does CARPE DIEM mean? Have you ever heard of Walt Whitman? What do you know about him?
E N D
Prepare for Dead Poets’ Society Keyword preparation • Romanticism • Realism • Walt Whitman • Henry David Thoreau • Ralph Waldo Emerson
Pre-watch questions • What does CARPE DIEM mean? • Have you ever heard of Walt Whitman? What do you know about him? • Do you know anything about Romanticism? And Realism? • What do you know about Thoreau and Emerson? What do you know about their philosophy? • Read and try to understand the theme of the poems from the movie. Can you guess the theme of the movie from the poems you read? • Read: Krutch, J. W.,e.d.: Walden and Other Writings by Henry David Thoreau, Bantam Books, 1981
Characters in DPSNeil Perry, Todd Anderson, Charlie Dalton (aka Nwanda), Knox Overstreet
Task 2Post-watch Qs: • 1. What do you get about the characters in the movie? (Keating, Neil, Todd, Charlie, Knox, …, their family background, their personalities, etc) Who would you classify as Romanticists, and who Realists? Illustrate your points. (Who do you like best? And why?) • 2. What are the ideas Mr. Keating tries to advocate to the students? (What are the purposes of Mr. Keating’s unusual classroom activities?) How do the student react to them? What do you think of them?(e.g. which of the ideas have impressed you most?) • 3. What is so special about Mr. Keating’s teaching method? How is his method different from other teachers? • 4. How have the students changed with Keating’s influence? Who do you think has changed most under Keating’s influence? (Who is really the bravest of Keating's boys? Give your reasons.)
5. Why exactly did Neil take his own life? Could Neil have found another way out of his predicament? Was suicide his only answer? Who really was to blame for Neil's death? Would Neil still have eventually committed suicide if Mr. Keating had never come into his life? • 6. What’s your understanding of ‘sucking the marrow out of life’? • 7. Compare the education you have gotten with the two approaches presented in the film (the strict, disciplined structure of the boys school as opposed to the freer carpe diem attitude of their teacher). Which do you find most effective for yourself? • 8. Another theme of the movie was the relationship between a teacher and a pupil. How close and informal, do you think, should such a relationship be? Is there any potentially dangerous nature of the relationship?