Dead Poets' Society: Carpe Diem

INT. KEATING'S CLASSROOM - DAY

Students enter Keating's classroom, talking and acting up. Keating
glances out from his room off to one side.

                              KNOX
               Hey Spaz, Spaz.

Spaz turns around in time to be hit by a ball of crumpled up paper
while Cameron smacks him on the shoulder.

                              CAMERON
               Brain damage.

The students quickly quiet down as Keating emerges from the other room,
whistling the 1812 Overture. He walks up the length of the classroom and
out the door without a word. The students look around at one another,
uncertain of what to do. Keating pokes his head back in the doorway.

                              KEATING
               Well come on.

He gestures them to follow and the students, after some hesitation, grab
their books and follow Keating out into the main entranceway. 

INT. ENTRANCEWAY - DAY

Keating stands before the school's trophy cabinets and waits until all
the boys arrive.

                              KEATING
               "Oh Captain, My Captain" who knows where
               that comes from?

Todd looks up as if he knows the answer, but says nothing. Spaz blows his
nose a little too close to Meeks for his liking.

                              KEATING
               Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt
               Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in
               this class you can call me Mr. Keating. Or,
               if you're slightly more daring, Oh Captain,
               My Captain.

The students laugh slightly.

                              KEATING
               Now let me dispel a few rumors so they
               don't fester into facts. Yes, I too
               attended Hell-ton and survived. And no,
               at that time I was not the mental giant
               you see before you. I was the intellectual
               equivalent of a ninety-eight pound
               weakling. I would go to the beach and
               people would kick copies of Byron in my
               face.

The boys laugh once again, while Cameron, obviously trying to write all
this down, looks around confusedly. Keating looks down at papers in his
hand.

                              KEATING
               Now, Mr… Pitts. That's a rather
               unfortunate name. Mr. Pitts, where are
               you?

Pitts raises his hand while everyone around him snickers.

                              KEATING
Mr. Pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first
stanza of the poem you find there?

                              PITTS
               "To the virgins, to make much of time"?

                              KEATING
               Yes, that's the one. Somewhat appropriate,
               isn't it.

                              PITTS
               "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old
               time is still a flying, and this same
               flower that smiles today, tomorrow will
               be dying."

                              KEATING
               Thank you Mr. Pitts. "Gather ye rosebuds
               while ye may." The Latin term for that
               sentiment is Carpe Diem. Now who knows
               what that means?

Meeks immediately puts his hand up.

                              MEEKS
               Carpe Diem. That's "seize the day."

                              KEATING
               Very good, Mr.-

                              MEEKS
               Meeks.

                              KEATING
               Meeks. Another unusual name. Seize the
               day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
               Why does the writer use these lines?

                              CHARLIE
               Because he's in a hurry.

                              KEATING
               No, ding!

Keating slams his hand down on an imaginary buzzer.

                              KEATING
               Thank you for playing anyway. Because we
               are food for worms lads. Because, believe
               it or not, each and every one of us in
               this room is one day going to stop
               breathing, turn cold, and die. 

Keating turns towards the trophy cases, filled with trophies, footballs,
and team pictures.

                              KEATING
               Now I would like you to step forward over
               here and peruse some of the faces from
               the past. You've walked past them many
               times. I don't think you've really looked
               at them.

The students slowly gather round the cases and Keating moves behind them.

                              KEATING
               They're not that different from you, are
               they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones,
               just like you. Invincible, just like you
               feel. The world is their oyster. They
               believe they're destined for great things,
               just like many of you. Their eyes are full
               of hope, just like you. Did they wait until
               it was too late to make from their lives
               even one iota of what they were capable?
               Because you see gentlmen, these boys are
               now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen
               real close, you can hear them whisper their
               legacy to you. Go on, lean in.

The boys lean in and Keating hovers over Cameron's shoulder.

                              KEATING
                        (whispering in a gruff voice)
               Carpe.

Cameron looks over his shoulder with an aggravated expression on his face. 

                              KEATING
               Hear it?
                        (whispering again)
               Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys,
               make your lives extraordinary.

The boys stare at the faces in the cabinet in silence.