Incandescently | Dead Poets Society

Three

"To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life." Victor Hugo

"Everybody, open your texts to page twenty-one of the introduction," Father starts, addressing the classroom, "Mr. Perry, would you read the opening paragraph of the preface entitled 'Understanding Poetry'?" As I slightly adjust my reading glasses and look over briefly at Neil, I turn my head back in surprise to see a pair of similar spectacles on his own face.

"'Understanding Poetry' by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, PHD," Neil begins, his voice clear and precise, "to fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions: one, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered and two, how important is that objective. Question one rates the poem's perfection, question two rates its importance, and once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter."

As Neil continues to read on, Father stands up from his desk and proceeds to start drawing out a diagram; specifically the diagram that J. Evans Pritchard is referring to in his writing. Looking ahead of me, I see Cameron copying the diagram into his notes, completely unbeknownst to what I know Father will order the class to do any moment now. Father comes to the end of finishing the equation of the diagram as Neil stops reading, after which he removes his reading glasses and places them carefully on his desk.

I reach over slightly and lightly tap his shoulder, and when he turns around with a slight smile on his face, I compliment his glasses. "Guess we both need assistance reading," I observe, chuckling under my breath, "they suit your face very nicely." As we both turn back to pay attention to Father, I notice a small tinge of blush growing across Neil's cheeks. 

"Excrement," Father says as he walks away from the chalkboard and leans against his desk, everyone in the room sending confused looks to one another in response, "that's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard." I feel my lips curl up into a small smile, eager to see the classroom's reaction to what he is going to order them to do. As Father continues his negativity towards Dr. Pritchard, I reach inside my book bag to retrieve my personal copy of the poetry textbook and when I open the book to where 'Introduction to Poetry' should be, I withhold a chuckle at the sight of slightly torn pages.

"Now, I want you to rip out that page," Father states, a quiet series of whispers and mumbles being the response of the classroom. "Go on, rip out that entire page!" He commands, to which the mumbling whispers continue. My ear picks up on the distinct sound of a piece of paper being ripped out slowly from behind me and when I turn around in my chair, I see Charlie smirking proudly as he holds up the page. "Thank you, Mr. Dalton!" Father exclaims and after pushing the class to rip out their pages, everyone slowly starts to tear and pull out the pages of 'Introduction to Poetry' although some, Cameron and Steven notably, are a little more hesitant to effectively 'destroying' their textbook. 

The satisfying sounds of pages of paper being sharply ripped accompany Father exclaiming "Rip it out!" repeatedly at the top of his lungs, and laughter begins to join in with the chorus of tearing. Father continues to shout out joyous commands as he walks to the back of the classroom and into his private room, presumably to grab a bin for all the torn pages. Just as he leaves, Cameron turns around in his chair and mumbles a complaint about ripping the pages out, to which both Neil and myself exclaim at him to just rip his pages out.

I watch as everyone in the class laughs and rips, but at the sound of the classroom door opening, everyone almost immediately freezes and drops everything. "What the hell is going on in here?" Mr. McAllister roars aloud, everyone turning their heads away and as I look around the room, I try my best to stifle my laughter at the sight of Charlie stuffing a ball of paper inside his mouth. "I don't hear enough rip-" Father starts as he reenters the room with a small metal bin in his hands, but stops at the sight of Mr. McAllister in the room. He awkwardly apologises and leaves the room, after which everyone continues to rip out the pages from their books and Father makes his way around the room collecting all of them.