Alumni News, Institutional News

Anatomy of a (Great) Commencement Speech

The 2012 Bennington commencement speech by actor Peter Dinklage '91—one of the best ever, according to NPR—was cited in The Week's recent podcast on "the anatomy of a commencement speech."

Peter Dinklage

"We combed through dozens of inspirational, funny, and memorable commencement speeches and found the best ones follow a surprisingly similar pattern," The Week said. 

The podcast also referenced speeches by Steve Jobs, David Foster Wallace, Toni Morrison, and Jon Stewart, among others. 

Dinklage's speech, named one of the "best commencement speeches ever" by NPR, has been viewed nearly 450,000 times on YouTube.