Anna Marie Sorenson

From Philosopedia

Anna Marie Sorenson (10 March 1883 - 17 September 1966)

Sorenson was born in Illinois, attended Ellsworth College, and received her B.A. degree and the M.A. degree from the University of Iowa.

She taught at the University of Colorado and Illinois State Normal University, then joined the staff of Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, in 1921, retiring in 1943.

A former student, Warren Allen Smith [[1]] remembers fondly her having been his first college professor:

• Miss Sorenson's English 101 in 1939 was my very first course in college. A green freshman, I looked forward to my first day on campus. Hers was the first class of the day, and she assigned some kind of essay. The next day when the 20 or 25 of us got our papers back, I found a "D" on mine, the first low grade I'd ever had in high school, particularly in English classes. I was about ready to go to the dorm, pack, and hitch a ride home.

• She had a sort of feline (some said canine) smile on her face, telling us we might want to rewrite the paper for a different grade. Only when class let out did I learn that I was one of 2 who got a "D," that all the rest had flunked.

• What all of us learned was that there are rules: margins, cursive handwriting that is legibile, cut the verbiage, and so forth. In short, in composition one is clear, concise, and interesting. A jolt like this, and learned the very first week, was a traumatic and constructive one for me. For some others, Sorenson was a crabby old maid who was sour on life.

• At one point we were assigned research papers, and I worked until early morning to make sure mine was longer than the requirement and would meet her approval. The next day, however, she called me aside and, with a book in her hand, pointed to my paper. "In this footnote, you document to page 113 of the book. Well, here's the book. Show me where on page 113 there's anything about what you have written about." It was as if I'd been caught robbing a bank. No need to try the excuse that I'd returned the book to the library before it closed and at the dorm I found I'd failed to write the correct page, that I'd guessed, that no one would know. First a D, now I'd failed!

• The other memorable incident, still remembered after six decades, was the poem she assigned:

Invictus

By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

• Asked what it meant, I relied upon my Methodist upbringing. God is good, Hell is where our souls go, and one has control over his actions and can earn his way to Heaven.

• "Mr. Smith, where in the poem do you see any reference to God, Hell, and Heaven?"

• Miss Sorenson, in short, was the first ever to lead me to the less-traveled road of freethought.

Sorenson's non-religious funeral service was held at the Nottger-Schoof Funeral Home in Cedar Falls. The flag at Iowa State Teachers College was flown at half-mast.

(See entry for William Ernest Henley.)