In the classroom with his students. Why Poetry? - ¿Por qué Poesía?
Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
A thought - Un pensamiento
Keating: No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.
One of the student's thought
Neil: I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life ... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Conversations:
During the meal. (comida) Professors Keating and McAllister
McAllister: You take a big risk by encouraging them to become artists, John. When they realize they're not Rembrandts, Shakespeares, or Mozarts, they'll hate you for it.
Keating: We're not talking artists, George. We're talking free thinkers.
McAllister: Free thinkers at seventeen?
Keating: Funny, I never pegged you as a cynic.
McAllister: Not a cynic, a realist. Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man.
Keating: But only in their dreams can men be truly free. T'was always thus and always thus will be.
McAllister: Tennyson?
Keating: No, Keating.
Nolan and Keating:
Nolan: John, the curriculum here, as set, has proven it works. If you question it, what's to prevent them from doing the same?
Keating: I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.
To the Virgins, to Make Much of TimeRobert Herrick (Fragmento)
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
Carpe Diem...Seize the Day. (Aclarando ideas)
The poem "To the Virgins, to make much of Time" (arriba) by Robert Herrick is brilliant in expressing a thematic representation of "carpe diem", seizing the moment. The speaker in this poem is an elderly gentleman who is trying to warn the youth not to waste the most precious years of their lives. He metaphorically praises youth and curses old age. I find his metaphors, use of cesauras and overall message briliant. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.
He aquí ésta reflexion del gran poeta en español:
Walt Whitman...Carpe Diem, aprovecha el día.
No dejes que termine sin haber crecido un poco,
sin haber sido un poco mas feliz,
sin haber alimentado tus sueños.
No te dejes vencer por el desaliento.
No permitas que nadie
te quite el derecho de
expresarte que es casi un deber.
No abandones tus ansias de hacer de tu vida
algo extraordinario...
No dejes de creer que las palabras, la risa y la poesía
sí pueden cambiar el mundo...
Somos seres, humanos, llenos de pasión.
La vida es desierto y tambien es oasis.
Nos derriba, nos lastima, nos convierte en
protagonistas de nuestra propia historia...
Pero no dejes nunca de soñar,
porque sólo a través de sus sueños
puede ser libre el hombre.
No caigas en el peor error, el silencio.
La mayoría vive en un silencio espantoso.
No te resignes...
No traiciones tus creencias. Todos necesitamos
aceptación, pero no podemos remar en
contra de nosotros mismos.
Eso transforma la vida en un infierno.
Disfruta el pánico que provoca tener
la vida por delante...
Vívela intensamente,
sin mediocridades.
Piensa que en tí está el futuro y en
enfrentar tu tarea con orgullo, impulso
y sin miedo.
Aprende de quienes pueden enseñarte...
No permitas que la vida
te pase por encima
sin que la vivas..."
