Article Weighs 3 Decades of Commencement Speeches, From Sontag to Swift
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 16
Article Weighs 3 Decades of Commencement Speeches, From Sontag to Swift
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 16
A seasonal essay argues the strongest commencement addresses endure because they are rooted in lived experience, not generic uplift.
Taylor Swift’s 2022 N.Y.U. speech, George Saunders’s 2013 Syracuse address and Steve Jobs’s 2005 Stanford remarks are cited as examples of lines that stuck because they felt earned and specific.
Susan Sontag’s 1983 Wellesley speech anchors the piece, especially her warning to graduates: “Don’t move to a mental slum.”
The article frames commencement speeches as a minor but recurring literary form that now circulates as social-media-ready wisdom each graduation season.
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