Robin Williams: Dead Poets

Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society quoted John Keatings, "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."[1] Contrary to popular belief, poets do not write poems for others, they write poems for themselves, to describe the beauty of the world as they see it. People love poems not because they believe that the poets are talking to them, but because they enjoy the beauty of the poem itself. They use the poem as a guide in their own lives.

Robin Williams, in the same movie and again quoting Keatings says, "Just when you think you know something, you have to look at in another way. Even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must try." This quote perfectly sums up the way poets think; they find the inner beauties of world, ideas and common sights, they see what others overlook. Poets do not write poems to change people's lives they write poems because they feel inspired by something and poetry is their way of expressing that inspiration.[2]

Poets are artists, the paper act as their canvas, and the words act as the many shades and colors of their paints. Poets

These are what make us human, being able to experience and express our emotions, that is what makes us people, that is the definition of the Human Condition. Poetry gives people a level of connectivity; it makes people feel like they're not alone in the universe, that someone else feels those same emotions. That's really what we want in life, we want to feel connected, we want to feel relevant, and we want to feel like our life matters. That’s precisely what we are just by being alive.