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Examples Of Transcendentalism In Dead Poets Society

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Transcendentalism in Dead Poets Society
Transcendentalism is the idea of having a deeper connection with nature and that our ideas “transcend” the natural world as we see it. Transcendentalists are more “in tune” with nature, and have a greater interest in life. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were considered the two most influential writers of the eighteenth century. They were known for their famous pieces like, “Nature” by Emerson, and Walden by Thoreau. Emerson and Thoreau explore transcendentalism in their pieces through the four basic beliefs: individualism, seize the day, utopia, and love and glory of nature. In Dead Poets Society, the main characters illustrate several transcendentalist key concepts expressed by Emerson and Thoreau …show more content…

His father thinks otherwise and wants him to pursue a career in the medical field. Mr Keating tells the boys, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary” (Dead Poets Society), to take chances and live in the moment. Tired of having his dad control his life, Neil attempts to seize the day and auditions as Puck in a shakespeare play, “A Midsummer's Night Dream.” Thoreau writes about going after your dreams in his piece Walden, “One advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours...if you have built castles in the air, your work not need to be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them” (240). This is an important quote and theme to live by because if you go after your dreams, you will be ultimately surprised at what you find. Neil relates back to this quote because although he knows what his father really wants his future to look like, he makes his own decision and follows his dream of acting. Neil illustrates the transcendentalist kep concept of seizing the day, and following after his

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