Apple debuted a new iPad Air ad yesterday during NFL football games and the Golden Globes. The new commercial sticks with the very serious tone it used in its holiday ad. The only spoken words in this spot come from Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. Here’s the excerpt:

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?

The ad is a touch too serious for me, but it gets the point across: the iPad Air can go anywhere with you and can do just about anything you want it to do.