DEATH POETS SOCIETY A help toward its comprehension

There is a fictional book by a fictional caracter J. Evans Pritchard, Understanding Poetry *. Supposedly the book is an anthology of verse in English with guides to test the quality of a poem, given by the author in the Preface. These are: 1. How artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered, 2. How important is that objective Do these amount to a mechanical exercise: rate perfection and importance? Do you agree with this method? Why or why not? The film has chosen a number quotations form well known poems: a. Whitman: O captain, my captain and also I sound my barbaric yawp b. Herricks: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may c. Tennyson: Last lines from Ulysses d. Shakespeare: Epilogue from A Midsummers Nights Dream e. Frost: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood f. Byron: She walks in beauty

Also, the first lines of Thoreaus Walden are quoted. Can you surmise the reason for these choices? How would you justify these selections? Why is the end of the film the boys suicide- so tragic? Did John Keating achieve his purpose? (By the way what was it?)