A new English teacher challenges his students' conventional understanding of poetry by having one student read from a textbook that attempts to quantify a poem's greatness. The teacher then dismisses this analytical approach, advocating for a more visceral and emotional engagement with the art form.
KEATING: Gentlemen, open your text to page twenty-one of the introduction. Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled "Understanding Poetry"?
NEIL: Understanding Poetry, by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter,
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