Dead Poets Society 🎥 1989 Movie Info

Plot Summary

In the fall of 1959, Todd Anderson begins his junior year of high school at Welton Academy, an Episcopal all-male preparatory boarding school in Vermont. Todd is assigned one of Welton’s top students, Neil Perry, as his roommate. Through Neil, he meets Neil’s friends: Knox Overstreet, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Charlie Dalton. On the first day of classes, the boys meet their new English teacher, John Keating, a Welton alumnus who studied English literature at the University of Cambridge. Keating teaches them the Latin expression carpe diem, encouraging them to “seize the day”.

During Keating’s classes, he has the students take turns standing on his desk to demonstrate ways to look at life differently, tells them to rip out the introduction of their poetry books that explains a mathematical formula for rating poetry, and invites them to make up their own style of walking in a courtyard to form their individualism. Keating’s unusual methods attract the attention of strict headmaster, Gale Nolan. Upon learning that Keating had been a member of the unofficial Dead Poets Society during his time as a student, Neil restarts the club. He and his friends sneak off campus to a cave to read poetry.

Keating’s lessons and the conversations in the club encourage them to live their lives on their own terms. Knox pursues Chris Noel, a cheerleader who is dating Chet Danburry, a football player whose family is friends with his. Neil discovers his love of acting and wins the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream despite the disapproval of his authoritarian father, who wants him to attend medical school. Keating helps Todd come out of his shell when he takes him through an exercise in self-expression, resulting in his spontaneous composition of a poem in front of the class.

Meet the Cast