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The Old Bridge At Florence

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Topics: classic

Taddeo Gaddi built me.    I am old,         Five centuries old.    I plant my foot of stone         Upon the Arno, as St. Michael's own         Was planted on the dragon.    Fold by fold     Beneath me as it struggles.    I behold         Its glistening scales.    Twice hath it overthrown         My kindred and companions.    Me alone         It moveth not, but is by me controlled,     I can remember when the Medici         Were driven from Florence; longer still ago         The final wars of Ghibelline and Guelf.     Florence adorns me with her jewelry;         And when I think that Michael Angelo         Hath leaned on me, I glory in myself.

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"Taddeo Gaddi built me.    I am old,..."

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Author:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Taddeo Gaddi built me.    I am old,..." by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most popular American poet of the 19th century. His narrative poems—including "Paul Revere's Ride," "Evangeline," and "The Song of Hiawatha"—made poetry accessible to a mass audience and shaped American cultural identity.

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