Kingsley University Professor of English Helen Vendler said after the speech that she was not aware that Summers had made his literary debut.

“It’s not a poem, it’s a joke,” Vendler said, referring to the line from Summers’ speech.

“We all feel somewhat abashed by the knowledge our colleagues have that we don’t have to the same degree,” Vendler added.

Dean for the Humanities Maria Tatar found a literary connection in Summers’ “joke.”

“Our president’s words to the Class of 2004 remind me of what T.S. Eliot [’10] had to say about returning home, especially to our intellectual home,” Tatar wrote in an e-mail, referring to Eliot’s poem, “Little Gidding.”

Anita Raghuwanshi ’04 said she enjoyed Summers’ speech, although she thought that he had looked bored.

“Although his skills in speech-giving have improved over the past years, his sitting posture has not,” Raghuwanshi said, adding that she had observed Summers twiddling his thumbs during the ceremony.

—Staff writer Elena P. Sorokin can be reached at sorokin@fas.harvard.edu.