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.

This line is spoken by John Keating, the charismatic English teacher in the film *Dead Poets Society* (1989), set at the conservative Welton Academy in 1959. Keating delivers it during a classroom scene in which he argues for the vital importance of poetry and the arts against the school’s rigid, utilitarian ethos. The speech functions as part of his broader pedagogical mission—encouraging students to think independently, embrace emotion and imagination, and resist purely careerist definitions of success. In the narrative, Keating’s celebration of passion and beauty becomes a catalyst for the boys’ renewed interest in literature and for their personal awakenings, with consequences that unfold throughout the film.

Keating contrasts the “necessary to sustain life” professions with the arts as the realm that gives life meaning. The quote frames poetry not as ornament or academic exercise but as an expression of what is most human: passion, longing, and the search for significance. By listing medicine, law, business, and engineering as “noble pursuits,” the speech avoids anti-intellectualism; instead it argues for balance, insisting that survival and achievement are insufficient without beauty, romance, and love. In the film’s context, the passage also critiques institutional conformity and instrumental education, proposing that literature cultivates inner freedom and a fuller moral and emotional life.