My Favourite Poetries in Motion !!

Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. It tells the story of an English teacher at a 1950s boys' school who inspires his students to overcome their reluctance to make changes in their lives and stirs up their interests in poetry and literature.

The story is set at the fictional Welton Academy in Vermont and was filmed at St. Andrew's School in Delaware. A novelization by Nancy H. Kleinbaum based on the movie's script has also been published

Awards and nominations
Dead Poets Society won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robin Williams), Best Director and Best Picture. This movie ranked number 20 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.)


Eleven boys, Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles), Charlie "Nuwanda" Dalton (Gale Hansen), Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), Steven Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero) and Gerard Pitts (James Waterston) attend the prestigious Welton Academy prep school, which is based on four principles: Tradition, Honor, Discipline and Excellence. According to the boys, the four pillars of "Hellton" are Travesty, Horror, Decadence, and Excrement.

Among the teachers the boys meet on their first day of class is the new English teacher, John Keating (played by Robin Williams), who tells the students that they can call him "O Captain! My Captain!" (the title of a Walt Whitman poem) if they feel daring. His first lesson is unorthodox by Welton standards, taking them out of the classroom to focus on the idea of carpe diem (Latin for 'seize the day' or to 'live life the fullest') by looking at the pictures of former Welton students in a trophy case. In a later class Keating has one of the boys read the introduction to their poetry textbook, a staid essay entitled "Understanding Poetry" by the fictional academic Dr. J. Evans-Pritchard Ph.D., which describes how to place the quality of a poem on a scale, and rate it with a number, a process that was popular in literary circles at the time. Keating finds the idea of such mathematical literary criticism ridiculous and encourages his pupils to rip the introductory essay out of their textbooks. After a brief reaction of disbelief, they do so gleefully as Keating congratulates them with the memorable line "Begone, J. Evans-Pritchard Ph.D.". Eventually he also has the students stand on his desk as a reminder to look at the world in a different way, just as Henry David Thoreau wrote that "The universe is wider than our views of it" (Walden).

The rest of the movie is a process of awakening, in which the boys (and the audience) discover that authority can and must always act as a guide, but the only place where one can find out his true identity is within oneself. To that end, the boys secretly revive an old literary club, of which Keating was a member, called the Dead Poets Society. One of the boys, Charlie Dalton, takes this a bit too far and publishes an article in the school flyer that proposes that girls be allowed at Welton, which implies that the reason for the proposed change is to give the boys pleasure. However, when the faculty learns of its existence, they demand to know who is involved to punish them for subverting the school. To add insult to injury, Charlie receives a "phone call from God" in front of Headmaster Nolan, who personally punishes him with a paddle and warns him that he had better be the only one involved. Charlie denies anybody else and says that he acted alone.

This free thinking brings trouble for one of the boys, Neil, who decides to pursue acting (something he loves and is very good at), rather than medicine (the career his strict father (Kurtwood Smith) chose for him). Keating urges Neil to tell his father how he feels before appearing in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Neil had the role of Puck. However, Neil went on stage without facing his father, a highly dictatorial man whom he could not bear to face. Neil's brilliant performance fails to please his father who, instead, tells Neil of his plans to pull him out of Welton (and acting) and to enroll him in Braden Military School to prepare him for Harvard University and a career in medicine. Unable to cope with his feelings and stand up to his father, Neil commits suicide with his father's revolver.

As a consequence of Neil's suicide, Nolan holds an investigation into the tragedy to find the supposed "responsible culprits." Nolan gets help from one of the students, Richard Cameron. When Charlie Dalton finds out that Cameron has squealed on them, he furiously attacks his former friend, only to get expelled from Welton.

All the boys confess what Keating has taught them, and Todd, who is coerced to do so by his strict father, also signs a confession casting blame on his former teacher. In this confession Keating is accused of doing acts which were much more radical than they actually were, such as inciting the boys to restart the Dead Poets Society, when in fact it was really them who found out about it and asked Keating about it. Inspired by what he had said, they recreated it themselves, without anything from Keating aside from a poetry book. Keating is fired and forced to leave Welton Academy after retrieving his belongings.

The film concludes with the boys, led by the previously very timid Todd Anderson, standing on their desks — in front of Mr. Nolan, in open defiance — calling to Keating, "O Captain! My Captain!" to show him that his messages have been understood and appreciated while Nolan stands helpless with the realization that there are too many in this demonstration to expel quietly. With tears in his eyes, Keating says "Thank you, boys. Thank you," and the film ends on a high, but uncertain note.



“Carpe Diem" (Seize the road)….

Alternative ending
The original ending had Keating dying of leukemia , hence his 'carpe diem' philosophy. Neil Perry's father sues both Keating for corrupting Neil, and the school for compensation and emotional suffering. Todd and the other 'Dead Poets' are told by Nolan to testify against Keating, in exchange for a clean record of any wrong-doing. Cameron is the only one who testifies against his former teacher, feeling that the school needs a scapegoat. Instead, the rest of the boys defend him and explain that Neil chose to act on his own beliefs rather than be influenced. Keating is acquitted of all charges, much to the fury of Perry, who spends his last years in depression and sorrow over the loss of his hopes for Neil and his "legacy." The boys are put on disciplinary probation, while Keating goes into hospital as his condition worsens. At the end of the film, Keating dies feeling that he has made a difference in the boys' lives. Peter Weir changed the script to emphasize more the boys' personal journey, but he has stated that he wished he had gone with the original ending.

To Sir, With Love

To Sir, with Love ( 1967) is a British film starring Sidney Poitier that deals with social issues in an inner city school, written and directed by James Clavell and based on a novel of the same name by E.R. Braithwaite.

The film is very much in a now-established genre in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, disengaged from conventional schooling. it sets Poitier, a black teacher, in a predominantly white London school. The film touches on racial issues but concentrates on the usual tropes of teenage angst and inspirational leadership. The film portrays a sanitised and fictional Swinging London. Braithwaite's name is changed to Mark Thackeray. Although he holds a college degree in engineering, Thackeray can't find work in London where he lives. Ostensibly, this is because there are no openings, and because he's overqualified for anything less; Thackeray, however, suspects (correctly) that nobody will hire him because he's black. Finally, he lands a job teaching at a high school in the slums. On his first day, Thackeray is warned about the punkish and unteachable students who got their latest professor (the man Thackeray has been hired to replace) to leave the school in resignation.

Thackeray's class keeps getting disrupted by the students' letting their desks slam shut, switching chairs in the middle of lessons, walking in and out of the room without ever saying a word, passing around pornographic magazines in mid-lessons, and the like. (One student even wears sunglasses right in the classroom; Thackeray keeps taking them off for him.) Thackeray shrewdly presumes all of these things are being done just to make him lose control of himself. Soon enough, he does just that upon finding his students burning a tampon in the classroom's wood-stove. Abandoning his previous vow never to do so under any circumstances, Thackeray flies into a rage and shuts all the boys out of the classroom. Then he bellows at the girls about keeping certain things private, and what he (read: society) thinks of women who fail to keep those things private. Finally, Thackeray slams out of the classroom and retreats to the school's faculty office; he's more furious with himself than with his students, because he allowed them to get the better of him. At the same time, the youngsters he's been trying to teach are impressed by the fact that he didn't use dirty language with them, as did Thackeray's predecessor. Thackeray's is proving a much harder spirit to break than their last teacher's.

Thackeray completely changes his approach to these youngsters' education. He starts by throwing the textbooks into the wastebasket, since the students never use them anyhow. He then sets up an open discussion, during which the students may ask about anything they feel the need to know. Thackeray explains to his students that they will soon enter the world of adulthood, where they must stand or fall on their own. He hopes to prepare them for higher education...and also for careers, matrimony and/or parenting. Thackeray also urges his students to address people as "Sir," or "Madam," although he himself also answers to "Mr. Thackeray." (The youngsters had previously called him "Mate," and worse.) When some of the kids point out that they've grown up alongside each other and are already on familiar terms, Thackeray responds by saying that such gives all of them the right to be called "Sir" or "Madam." Sure enough, the entire class quickly comes to know Thackeray as "Sir."

At one point, Denham, the students' ringleader, challenges Thackeray to an impromptu boxing match in the gym, since Thackeray was a Golden Gloves contender, he should be a worthy opponent. Indeed, Thackery soon gets the upper hand by knocking the wind out of Denham with a single hook to the body. Thackeray helps Denham up and offers to help prepare him for a professional bout. Denham is surprised that Thackeray stopped after one blow, since the boy was clearly attempting to injure his teacher. Thackeray, however, informs Denham that responding in kind would have accomplished nothing for either of them.

Thackeray stresses the importance of self-respect to his students; if they don't care about themselves, they're never going to care about anybody. Accordingly, he takes them on a field trip to the local museum. The school opposes this, anticipating a riot. There is none. All of Thackeray's students conduct themselves the way he has treated them: like young adults.

A day later, Thackeray receives a job offer from a local engineering company. After due consideration, he plans to resign from the school following the graduation of the senior class he's been teaching. The faculty says they'll miss him a lot; after all, Thackeray has accomplished so much with those youngsters in so little time, a feat none of the other teachers dreamed possible.

One of Thackeray's female students asks to dance with him at their senior prom. He does, and she later performs a song she has written with him in mind: "To Sir with love." He is deeply moved by this.

On the last day of school, Thackeray bids farewell to his students and thanks them for being in his class. They thank him for being their teacher, and then depart. After everyone else has left, Thackeray is visited by an eleventh-grade boy and girl both of whom are as surly and sullen as Thackeray's previous students had been when they first met him. "I'm in your bleeding class next year," says the boy, who then shows himself out with the girl. Thackeray realizes that his work here is not finished after all; accordingly, he tears up the letter regarding the engineering job offer. Then he walks out of his classroom to make plans for the next semester.



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(Trivia)


The film's title song "To Sir, with Love", sung by Lulu, reached number one on the U.S. pop charts.


It was shot in London.


A television movie sequel, To Sir, with Love II, was released in 1996.





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(Book)
Ricardo Braithwaite, a British West Indian-born communications engineer, comes to Britain in 1939 for post-graduate studies, but enlists in the RAF. After being demobilized from the service, he is unable to find work in his profession due to anti-black racism, and is advised to look at teaching as a career. He is accepted and assigned to a tough school in London's East End, where teachers come and go frequently and the pupils are mostly rebellious and unwilling to learn.

After several false starts, Braithwaite starts to gain the confidence of the pupils, as well as his fellow teachers. He is attracted to Gillian Blanchard, another new teacher, and by the end of term, they are deeply in love and plan to marry.

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To Sir with Love

Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone,
Who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try,

If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high,
To Sir, with Love

The time has come,
For closing books and long last looks must end,
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend,
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong,
That's a lot to learn,
What, what can I give you in return?

If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,
But I would rather you let me give my heart,
To Sir, with Love!

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I close my eyes and see ... moon of brass, steely stars, barefooted trees with arms stretched , I feel the gelid wind blowing over my soul.....

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull

Jonathon is that brilliant little fire that burns within us all, that lives only for those moments when we reach perfection.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the win
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hillfor the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Meditative Spot: Interview with God

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/

Interview with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”

God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”

"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”