The New York Times published Bob Dylan’s full Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Saturday, just hours after the Nobel Prize ceremonies ended.

Despite the mixed responses to the appointment of Dylan, 75, as Nobel Laureate for Literature, the speech and Patti Smith’s performance of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” visibly welled up emotions among audience members.

In the last few lines of his speech, Dylan touched upon the controversy surrounding his receipt of the Prize. He wrote, “Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, ‘Are my songs literature?’ So I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.”

Dylan will receive approximately $870,000 as part of the prize and, like other Nobel laureates, is required to give a lecture on the subject of literature within six months.

“There is a chance that Bob Dylan will be performing in Stockholm next year, possibly in the spring,” the Academy said in a statement, according to the Times, “in which case he will have a perfect opportunity to deliver his lecture. We will post more information as soon as we have it.”

Watch Patti Smith’s cover of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

Photo Credit: American Stock via Getty Images.