>>12
I have adopted a functionalist philosophy. Life, then, is the remaining ability to influence others who have the same ability. Which is a fully circular definition, and therefore invalid, unless you accept that you yourself are alive. If you don't, then life is meaningless. Just like real life.

The meaning of being a true dead poet is from postmodernism, and in particular the movie Dead Poets Society. Postmodernist literary criticism has as dogma that the author is dead. This means that Word of God, as defined by TV Tropes, does not count, and any work must stand and be interpreted by its own content within its own context. Asking the author is invalid, and besides (in the words of Kris Straub): How would the artist know what his or her work mean? That's what critics are for.

This is but one aspect of dead poetry: That our posts stand by themselves, indepenent of the author. Anyone can claim or reject ownership; the posts have to be interpreted by their own content, not by who wrote them.
The other aspect is that dead poets are beyond criticism. Talking to a living author may (or may not) reveal that the profound mystical insights really are profane and banal. With a dead poet, and every dead person in general, every remaining word is beyond approach (if not reproach).

We are immune to criticism, cape or no capes; we let anonymity be our terribly comfortable mask, and whosoever feels the sting of our hidden blades is no innocent.

TL;DR: Read my works, þe mighty, and bow to me!