Up this month for the Willa Cather Short Story Project is “The Professor’s Commencement.” As mentioned in the reminder post, it was published in New England Magazine in 1902 when Cather was in her early years as a high school teacher.
Here’s the link to read it on the Willa Cather Archive: https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss018
High school professor
“The Professor’s Commencement” is about Emerson, a high school English professor who is retiring after thirty years. He lives with his widowed sister, Agatha Graves, and has been working on a book for years that he realizes he may never finish. I couldn’t help but wonder if Cather was thinking about what her life could be like if she chose to live out her life as a high school teacher.
Emerson teaches at the same high school from which he graduated. He flubbed his commencement recitation all those years ago and his sister thinks his retirement dinner is a good time and place to revisit and heal that old mistake. It does not go well.
War to protect youth
The Professor feels like he has fought a decades-long war, battling to allow his students their youth and to instill in them a sense of truth and beauty before they are ingested into the industrial grind of Pittsburgh. Beyond the classroom window is the grime and noise of industrialization. At times, the noise from outside overwhelms, canceling out the voices of the students as they read or recite beautiful passages. Inside the school are the same dusty old subjects that teachers teach year after year to vibrant young people who wait for the bell so they can burst out of the building.
Emerson reflects that perhaps he has wasted his life. He looks at his colleagues whom he judges as thinking themselves youthful because they are surrounded by youth. A mistake the professor thinks he himself may have made. Now that Emerson will not be surrounded by youth, he realizes his age. He is only 55, but seems much older.
An overabundance of literary and artistic references and allusions make “The Professor’s Commencement” a bit of a chore to read. Although it was fun to see Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Great Stone Face” make an appearance.
The other professor
I couldn’t help thinking of Cather’s 1925 novel, The Professor’s House, a story about another professor nearing the end of his career who finds himself unhappy. Both professors also lose their favorite students. I imagine there are more comparisons to make, but it has been some years since I last read The Professor’s House. I do wonder if either man is seeing himself and his life through distorted lenses.
Have you read “The Professor’s Commencement” by Willa Cather? What did you think? What are your thoughts about the title?
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Hi, Chis. Yes, I just this evening read this story. I found your page when I searched for some commentary. I had read at least a couple of Cather’s stories in anthologies, and wanted to read more. I’m reading Cather’s ‘Collected Short Fiction 1892-1912’, skipping around out of order, sampling her various writing periods. I’ve read 15 stories so far, several I found absolutely top notch in the realm of the short story, and even her very early ones, from age 18-19 are little gems. I’ve ordered ‘Stories, Poems, and Other Writings’ so I’ll have all her later stories. I expect I’ll read quite a few more stories now, and come back for more Cather sessions later.
My response to “The Professor’s Commencement” was about the same as yours. The story makes its point, but I also felt that Emerson (in “real life”) might better have expressed his true feelings in the commencement, those we learned from the story, rather than recite poetry.
Interesting that almost every Cather story I’ve read so far includes deaths, most of them as the major theme of the plot. Even this one mentions a death, without elaborating. I’ll be noticing whether this continues to be the case as I read more.
I look forward to looking at more of your comments. I wonder why no one else has commented here. You may write me directly if you choose.
Hi, Chis. I read “The Professor’s Commencement” last evening. I then found your page when I searched for some commentary. I had previously read “Paul’s Case” and at least two other Willa Cather stories in anthologies, so great I decided to read more. I’m reading from her ‘Collected Short Fiction 1892-1912’, skipping around out of order, sampling her various writing periods. I’ve read 18 stories so far, several I found absolutely top notch in the realm of the short story, deserving to be anthologized along with the usual 2 or 3. Even some of her very early ones, from age 18-19 are little gems.
You summed up the story well. My response to it was about the same as yours. I too found some of the allusions problematical, due to my unfamiliarity. The story makes its point, but I also felt that Emerson (in “real life”) might better have expressed his true feelings in the commencement, those we learned from the story, rather than recite poetry. Emerson at 55 seems like an old man, even showing signs of dementia. I would have made him 65 at least. Did professors commonly retire at 55 back then?
Interesting that almost every Cather story I’ve read so far involves or at least mentions death, most of them as the major theme of the plot. I wonder why. Even this one notably mentions a death, though without elaborating. As I read more, I’ll be noticing whether Cather is preoccupied with that subject.
It’s a good story and I liked it, but it’s not among my favorites, nor among those I so highly rate. I look forward to looking at more of your Cather project. I’m sorry to see no other comments on this and some of the other Cather stories you cover. I’ve ordered her ‘Stories, Poems, and Other Writings’ so I’ll soon have all her later stories. I expect I’ll read a few more stories now, and come back for more Cather sessions later. I’ve been doing this with numerous story writers, including Hawthorne. I need to go back and look at “The Great Stone Face”.
Hi Eddie, thanks for your thoughtful comment. I’m happy to hear you are exploring Cather’s short stories and are, for the most part, enjoying them. I agree that some of her early ones are gems. I appreciate that she explores many different subjects, settings, and styles. It is fascinating to see her development.
Yes, there is a lot of death in Cather’s fiction, which people sometimes gloss over (as with the violence in some of her stories). It is definitely a major theme for her and a classic theme in literature. Her characters die from a variety of causes. One of the reasons for death that I’ve been curious about is when a character dies because they are not living a fulfilling life, either because of their situation and/or something within themselves.
It has been a while since I read “The Professor’s Commencement,” but I have a lingering feeling that Emerson’s situation and attitude is due in part to his not seizing life and living it. 55 seems young to retire, so that could be a sign that something is not “right” with him. I don’t know what a common retirement age was for teachers back then, but I do know that in general people retired later in life, like in their 70s. From what I understand, 65 as a retirement age is a mid-twentieth century social security development.
There were more readers early on in this short story project. People dropped off especially when the stories were not readily available in trade print editions. I occasionally get emails and comments through other channels. But as a Cather scholar nearing the end of her career commented recently, even she hasn’t read some of these earlier stories. Most of the attention is on Cather’s novels.
I also love some of Hawthorne’s short stories. “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” and “The Great Stone Face” are two favorites.