The show has many motifs that allude to this theory of an individuality that emerged from the dredges of the Cold War. Many of them are shown in the theme of an immortal legacy that Keating tells the boys they can obtain through their own actions. As Zanowic says in her article, Issues of Modernity in Dead Poets Society, "Keating wants his students to own their role in history." Zanowic compares Keatings teachings to the modernism teachings of Nietzche, who, similarly to the mantra Carpe Diem, based a lot of his philsophies on the ideas of memento mori and memento vivere, which meant 'remember you will die' and 'remember to live.' 

Some of the motifs include birds, which are a common symbol of freedom. There is a scene in the movie where multiple flocks of birds are shown flying away, in which the squabbling of the birds overlays onto the boys in their own squabbling as they descent down the crowded stairs on their first day. This compares the boys directly to the birds, and while birds have the ability to fly away to be free and any direction, they are specifically compared to a flock of birds that stick together and copy the flight patterns of those in charge.

Another motif found in the soundtrack is the bagpipes. The bagpipes are played at the beginning during an introductory initiation scene as the boys enter their new school year. The bagpipes are then played during a turning point in which the boys are finally deciding to seize their own days. Then finally, on the end scene after the famous O Captain, My Captain" scene, the boys faces cut to black in which the credits play. It is soon into these credits that the bagpipes are revisisited, successfully making a full circle with the theme of an immortal and looping legacy.