What Will Your Verse Be? Apple Channels 'Dead Poets Society' In New iPad Air TV Ad
January 13, 2014
Apple has just unveiled a new TV ad for the iPad Air during this weekend's NFL playoffs.
As noted by Re/code, the 90-second ad, titled "Your Verse," features a voiceover speech on the reason for reading and writing poetry, as given by Robin Williams in the film "Dead Poets Society":
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. To quote from Whitman, “O me, O life of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: that you are here. That life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” What will your verse be?If you can't see the video embedded above, please click here. In consonance with the speech, the ad shows the many ways in which the iPad is being used across various disciplines that, in one way or another, have to do with "poetry, beauty, romance, love." These include marine biology, mountain climbing, dance choreography, music, education, medicine, filmmaking, and athletics. Along with the ad, Apple has debuted a new "Your Verse" webpage that shares some of the stories of the iPad users featured in the ad. This new webpage complements the existing "Life on iPad" webpage in sharing a number of stories centered on how the iPad has been used to help different people achieve different goals. The new "Your Verse" ad also recalls the Bryan Cranston-narrated "Pencil" ad since both TV spots focus on the iPad as a multipurpose and multidisciplinary device.
