Dead Poets Society is a movie about a group of friends at a boarding school during the late 1950's. Throughout the movie, the friends start developing their emotions as well as their individuality. The movie relates many ideas of the Romantic Era writers and poets to the actions of the main characters. It is one thing to write about the ideas of romanticism, but it's much more difficult to convey them through acting.
A way of viewing the ideas of romanticism is to focus on the teaching methods of Mr. Keating comparatively to that of the other faculty members; one would also focus on the ideas Mr. Keating is trying to convey to his students. Through the opening of the movie, the viewer gets to see what the school life is like. One can see that on the first day of school every teacher assigns homework and has the students read the first chapters of a textbook. Where as Mr. Keating has them tear out the introduction of the poetry book and has them write their own poetry. During the courtyard scene Mr. Keating shows how it is natural to conform to others and has them do a walking exercise in which they walk in their own style. Mr. Keating also asks the class to refer to him as "Oh Captain, My Captain", one can assume that he is referring to the poem by Walt Whitman in which a captain's life is being described. Mr. Keating teaches them about the idea of "carpe diem".
Romanticism also deals with a person's out look on life; one can see this through the students" actions and how they follow the ideals of "carpe diem". The character Knox Overstreet for instance pursues his feelings towards a girl Chris and after being tested many times wins her heart through a poem. Neil takes a chance and tries out acting in the play Midsummer's Night Dream against his fathers permission, Neil in the end decides to end his life because he couldn't tolerate being controlled by his father. Todd decided to speak out against the replacement English teacher's comment about Mr.