CHARLIE
Why doesn't he let you do what you want?
KNOX
Yeah. Neil, tell him off. It couldn't get any worse.
NEIL
Oh, that's rich! Like you guys tell your parents off, Mr. Future
Lawyer and Mr. Future Banker?
KNOX
Okay, so I don't like it any more than you do.
NEIL
Well, stop telling me how to talk to my father. You guys are the
same way.
KNOX
All right, all right. Jesus. So what are you gonna do, then?
NEIL
What I have to do. Drop the annual.
CHARLIE
Well, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. It's just a bunch
of jerks trying to impress Nolan.
NEIL
I don't care. I don't give a damn about any of it.
MEEKS
Well, uh, Latin, eight o'clock in my room?
NEIL
Yeah.
KNOX
I guess so.
MEEKS
Todd, you're welcome to join us.
CHARLIE
Yeah, come along, pal.
TODD
Thanks.
McALLISTER
Slow down, boys! Slow down, you horrible phalanx of pubescence!
SCIENCE TEACHER
Pick three laboratory experiments from the project list and report
on them every five weeks. The first twenty questions at the end
of Chapter One are due tomorrow.
McALLISTER
Agricolam.
BOYS
Agricolam.
McALLISTER
Agricola.
BOYS
Agricola.
McALLISTER
Agricolae.
BOYS
Agricolae.
McALLISTER
Agricolarum.
BOYS
Agricolarum.
McALLISTER
Agricolis.
BOYS
Agricolis.
McALLISTER
Agricolas.
BOYS
Agricolas.
McALLISTER
Agricolis.
BOYS
Agricolis.
McALLISTER
Again, please. Agricola.
BOYS
Agricola.
HABER
Your study of trigonometry requires absolute precision. Anyone
failing to turn in any homework assignment will be penalized one
point off their final grade. Let me urge you now not to test me
on this point.
BOY 1
Hey, Spaz! Spaz!
BOY 2
Brian damaged.
KEATING
Well, come on!
BOY
Let's go. Let's go, guys.
KEATING
"O Captain! My Captain!" Who knows where that
comes from? Anybody.
KEATING
Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham
Lincoln. Now, this class, you can either call me Mr. Keating,
or, if you're slightly more daring, "O Captain! My Captain."
KEATING
Now let me dispel a few rumors, so they don't fester into facts.
Yes, I, too, attended Hellton and have survived. And no, at that
time, I was not the mental giant you see before you. I was the
intellectual equivalent of a ninety-eight-pound weakling. I would
go to the beach, and people would kick copies of Byron in my face.
KEATING
Now, Mr. Pitts. That's rather unfortunate name. Mr. Pitts, where
are you?
KEATING
Mr. Pitts, will you open your hymnal to page 542? Read the first
stanza of the poem you find there.
PITTS
"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"?
KEATING
Yes. That's the one. Somewhat appropriate, isn't it?
PITTS
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying: And
this same flowers that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.
KEATING
Thank you, Mr. Pitts. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may."
The Latin term for that sentiment is "Carpe diem".
Now who knows what that means?
MEEKS
Carpe diem. That's "seize the day."
KEATING
Very good, Mr--
MEEKS
Meeks.
KEATING
Meeks. Another unusual name. Seize the day. "Gather ye
rosebuds while ye may." Why does the writer use these
lines?
CHARLIE
Because he's in a hurry.
KEATING
No! Ding! Thank you for playing anyway. Because we are food for
worms, lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of
us in this room is, one day, gonna stop breathing, turn cold,
and die. I would like you to step forward over here and peruse
some of the faces from the past. You've walked past them many
times, but I don't think you've really looked at them.
KEATING
They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts,
full of hormones just like you. Invincible just like you feel.
The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great
things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just
like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their
lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see,
gentlemen, those boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you
listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you.
Go on, lean in. Listen. Do you hear it?
KEATING
Carpe. Hear it? Carpe. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your
lives extraordinary.
PITTS
That was weird.
NEIL
But different.
KNOX
Spooky if you ask me.
CAMERON
He'll test us on that stuff?
CHARLIE
Oh, come on, Cameron. Don't you get anything?
CAMERON
What? What? TEACHER: Let's go, boys. Hustle up in here. That means
you, Dalton.
MEEKS
All right, who's up for our study group tonight, guys?
BOY 1
Sure.
BOY 2
Me.
BOY 3
Me, me, me.
KNOX
Well, I can't make it, guys. I have to have dinner at the Danburrys'
house tonight.
CHARLIE
Ooh, the Danburrys.
NEIL
Who are the Danburrys?
CHARLIE
Big alums! How'd you swing that?
KNOX
Friends of my dad's. They're probably in their nineties or something.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
NEIL
Anything's better than Hellton hash.
CHARLIE
I'll second that.
MEEKS
Yeah, well, we'll see.
NEIL
Hey! Want to come to the study group tonight?
TODD
Uh, no. No. I've, I-I've got some history I wanna do.
NEIL
Suit yourself.
HABER
Ready, Overstreet?
KNOX
Ready to go, sir.
MRS. DANBURRY
Chet, can you get that?
CHET
I can't, Mom.
CHRIS
I'll get it.
CHRIS
Can I help you?
KNOX
Hi. K-Knox Overstreet. Uh, Dr. Hager.
CHRIS
Hi.
KNOX
This is the Danburrys', right?
CHRIS
Are, are you here to see Chet?
KNOX
Mrs. Danburry?
CHRIS
No.
MRS. DANBURRY
I'm sorry. Thank you, Chris. I'm Mrs. Danburry. You must be Knox.
KNOX
Yes.
MRS. DANBURRY
Back by nine? Please, come on in.
CHET
Chris, come on. What are you doing?
CHRIS
Chet, I'm coming.
MR. DANBURRY
Knox! How are you? Joe Danburry.
KNOX
Nice to meet you, sir.
MR. DANBURRY
Well, he's the spitting image of his father, isn't he? How is
he? Come on in.
KNOX
He's great. He just did a big case for G.M.
MR. DANBURRY
Yeah, I know where you're headed. Like father, like son, huh?
BOY 1
Yes!
BOY 2
Oh, sacrifice bishop to queen six.
BOY 1
Another game?
BOY 2
What do you mean?
PITTS
Boo!
CAMERON
Replace, uh, these numbers here with X-- For X and Y.
NEIL
Of course.
CAMERON
Of course. So what's the problem?
CHARLIE
How was dinner?
KNOX
Huh?
CHARLIE
How was dinner?
KNOX
Terrible. Awful.
CHARLIE
What? What happened?
KNOX
Tonight I met the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire
life.
NEIL
Are you crazy? What's wrong with that?
KNOX
She's practically engaged. To Chet Danburry.
CHARLIE
The guy could eat a football.
PITTS
Too bad.
KNOX
Too bad? It's worse than too bad, Pitts. It's a tragedy. A girl
this beautiful in love with such a jerk?
PITTS
All the good ones go for jerks, you know that.
CAMERON
Yeah, forget her. Open your trig book and try and figure out problem
five.
KNOX
I can't just forget her, Cameron. And I certainly can't think
about trig!
PITTS
We got it!
HABER
All right, gentlemen, five minutes. Let's go.
CHARLIE
Did you see her naked?
KNOX
Very funny, Dalton.
HABER
That wouldn't be a, uh, radio in your lap, wouldn't it, Mr. Pitts?
PITTS
No, sir. A science experiment. Radar.
KEATING
Gentlemen, open your texts to page 21 of this introduction. Mr.
Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface entitled
"Understanding Poetry"?
NEIL
"'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: 1) How artfully
has the objective of the poem been rendered and 2) How important
is that objective? Question 1 rates the poem's perfection; question
2 rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered,
determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter."
NEIL
"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."
NEIL
"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
matter grows, so will, so will your enjoyment and understanding
of poetry."
KEATING
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? "Oh, I like Byron. I
give him a 42, but I can't dance to it." Now, I want
you to rip out that page.
KEATING
Go on. Rip out the entire page. You heard me. Rip it out. Rip
it out! Go on. Rip it out!
KEATING
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! 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.
KEATING
Go on. Make a clean tear. I want nothing left of it.
CAMERON
We shouldn't be doing this.
KEATING
Rip! Rip! Rip! Rip it out! Rip!
KEATING
Rip it out!
McALLISTER
What the hell is going on here?
KEATING
I don't hear enough rips!
McALLISTER
Mr. Keating.
KEATING
Mr. McAllister.
McALLISTER
I'm sorry. I, I didn't know you were here.
KEATING
I am. Ah.
McALLISTER
So you are. Excuse me.
KEATING
Keep ripping, gentlemen! This is a battle. A war. And the casualties
could be your hearts and souls. Thank you, Dalton. Armies of academics
going forward, measuring poetry. No! We'll not have that here.
No more Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Now, 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. Now I see that look in Mr. Pitts' 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've a little
secret for you. Huddle up. Huddle up!
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 question
of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of
cities fill'd 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.
KEATING
"That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute
a verse." What will your verse be?
BOYS
For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful.
Amen.
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