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INSPIRING & MOTIVATING, 1.14 (V) 01.10 - Part 1 - Visionary Language (2)

1.14 (V) 01.10 - Part 1 - Visionary Language (2)

The main lead character in this film, Robin Williams, one of the great comedians of our time, if you will. The film is Dead Poets Society. A little context on the film. Robin Williams is a new teacher. He's a English poetry, literature teacher in an all-boys, very conservative private school. In this school, the boys are taught from a very early age, from the headmaster, their parents and so on, that career pursuits that are worth their attention and their talents include medicine, law, business. Poetry is probably the furthest thing from their minds. Yet he is a new teacher in this school responsible for engaging these students in a shared collective activity, which is to learn about poetry. Remember, he's new, they all know each other, and the video clip that I'm going to share with you is his second interaction with the class. In the first interaction he has with the class, he takes them out into the hallway, shares with them the trophies that prior students at the school have won and all of the accolades. And he talks about the opportunity that they have before them to really seize the day. The famous quote, carpe diem from the movie, seize the day, and really the opportunity for these students to do something special in their lives. But it's really in the second interaction that he begins to communicate his vision for these students. And what I'd like you to do is watch the video clip for a few minutes, and I want you to have the checklist beside you. And I want you to pay attention to how he uses the room, uses language. And see if you can take a count of the devices from that checklist that Robin Williams uses to communicate his vision to this team or this class of boys at this all private, extremely conservative, school where poetry is not exactly at the top of their priority list. » Gentlemen, open your texts to page 21 of the introduction. Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph with the preface entitled Understanding Poetry? » Understanding Poetry by Dr. J Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech. Then ask two questions. One, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered? And two, how important is that objective? Question one rates the poem's perfection. Question two rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness. A sonnet by Byron might score high on the vertical but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this manner grows, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry. » Excrement. That's what I think of Mr. J Evans Pritchard. We're not laying pipe. We're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? Well, I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I can't dance to it. » [LAUGH] » Now I want you to rip out that page. Go on, rip out the entire page. You heard me, rip it out. Rip it out! Go on, rip it out. [SOUND] » Oh. » Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Gentlemen, tell you what. Don't just tear out that page. Tear out the entire introduction. I want it gone, history, leave nothing of it. Rip it out, rip! [SOUND] Be gone, J Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. Rip, shred, tear, rip it out! I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard. We'll perforate it, put it on a roll. It's not the Bible, you're not gonna go to hell for this. » [LAUGH] » Go on, make a clean tear. I want nothing left of it. » We shouldn't be doing this. » Rip it. » Rip it out, rip! [NOISE] [CROSSTALK] » Rip it out. » What the hell is going on here? » I don't hear enough rip. » Mr. Keating. » Mr. McAllister. » I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here. » I am. » So you are. Excuse me. » Keep ripping, gentlemen! This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls. Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Armies of academics going forward, measuring poetry. No, we will not have that here. No more of Mr. J Evans Pritchard. Now in my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. I see that look in Mr. Pitt's eye, like 19th century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school, right? Maybe. Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions. I have a little secret for you, huddle up. Huddle up! 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. 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, oh me, oh life, of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish, what good amid these, oh me, oh 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?

1.14 (V) 01.10 - Part 1 - Visionary Language (2)

The main lead character in this film, Robin Williams, one of the great comedians of our time, if you will. The film is Dead Poets Society. A little context on the film. Robin Williams is a new teacher. He's a English poetry, literature teacher in an all-boys, very conservative private school. In this school, the boys are taught from a very early age, from the headmaster, their parents and so on, that career pursuits that are worth their attention and their talents include medicine, law, business. Poetry is probably the furthest thing from their minds. Yet he is a new teacher in this school responsible for engaging these students in a shared collective activity, which is to learn about poetry. Remember, he's new, they all know each other, and the video clip that I'm going to share with you is his second interaction with the class. In the first interaction he has with the class, he takes them out into the hallway, shares with them the trophies that prior students at the school have won and all of the accolades. And he talks about the opportunity that they have before them to really seize the day. The famous quote, carpe diem from the movie, seize the day, and really the opportunity for these students to do something special in their lives. But it's really in the second interaction that he begins to communicate his vision for these students. And what I'd like you to do is watch the video clip for a few minutes, and I want you to have the checklist beside you. And I want you to pay attention to how he uses the room, uses language. And see if you can take a count of the devices from that checklist that Robin Williams uses to communicate his vision to this team or this class of boys at this all private, extremely conservative, school where poetry is not exactly at the top of their priority list. » Gentlemen, open your texts to page 21 of the introduction. Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph with the preface entitled Understanding Poetry? » Understanding Poetry by Dr. J Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech. Then ask two questions. One, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered? And two, how important is that objective? Question one rates the poem's perfection. Question two rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness. A sonnet by Byron might score high on the vertical but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this manner grows, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry. » Excrement. That's what I think of Mr. J Evans Pritchard. We're not laying pipe. We're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? Well, I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I can't dance to it. » [LAUGH] » Now I want you to rip out that page. Go on, rip out the entire page. You heard me, rip it out. Rip it out! Go on, rip it out. [SOUND] » Oh. » Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Gentlemen, tell you what. Don't just tear out that page. Tear out the entire introduction. I want it gone, history, leave nothing of it. Rip it out, rip! [SOUND] Be gone, J Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. Rip, shred, tear, rip it out! I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard. We'll perforate it, put it on a roll. It's not the Bible, you're not gonna go to hell for this. » [LAUGH] » Go on, make a clean tear. I want nothing left of it. » We shouldn't be doing this. » Rip it. » Rip it out, rip! [NOISE] [CROSSTALK] » Rip it out. » What the hell is going on here? » I don't hear enough rip. » Mr. Keating. » Mr. McAllister. » I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here. » I am. » So you are. Excuse me. » Keep ripping, gentlemen! This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls. Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Armies of academics going forward, measuring poetry. No, we will not have that here. No more of Mr. J Evans Pritchard. Now in my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. I see that look in Mr. Pitt's eye, like 19th century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school, right? Maybe. Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions. I have a little secret for you, huddle up. Huddle up! 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. 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, oh me, oh life, of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish, what good amid these, oh me, oh 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?