Although the genesis and perhaps lion’s share of credit for the power in this inspiring scene from “Dead Poets Society” belongs with screenwriter Tom Schulman, it is the understated yet determined passion in Robin Williams’s delivery that carries the power and meaning of the words through the mind and plants it in the heart and spirit of the viewer. In this scene, if even for a moment, the window of wonder of many closed minds was opened to the intangible universe that is art, poetry, and thinking.

In my studies and life experiences I believe they could easily change the subject from poetry, to theology, literature, history, politics, sociology or any other thought and reflection based discipline. The fact that persons such as J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. could dare to propose a standardized assessment of poetry or determine the worth of a poem is, as completely demonstrated by Williams’s Mr…