Mary Grace at the Bridge
Joseph, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Listen, my brother, and you shall hear of the midnight memory of Mary Grace… ere. I promise that I actually know something about poetry. You don’t believe me? You will soon. Without further ado, I present to you a story full of ups and downs and in betweens. Here is “Mary Grace at the Bridge.”
Highlands Latin School is a place of adventure, especially for the 6th graders. They are at the top of the Lower School food chain. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and their responsibility is to memorize a poem. It may not sound like much, but this poem is no ordinary poem. “Horatius at the Bridge” is a 70 stanza poem written by Lord Macaulay in the mid 1800’s. It tells the story of one heroic Roman man named Horatius and his two sidekicks who stand at the bridge leading to Rome and keep the enemy from entering the city and attacking the Roman people. But the story I’m telling isn’t all about Horatius. Hasn’t he had enough fame? This story is about my time as an HLS 6th grader and the countless lessons I learned while memorizing this poem.
As daunting an undertaking committing to memory 70 stanzas of poetry may seem to have been, it was. After procrastinating until 2 months before…show more content… My teacher told my class to get into a single file line. We marched with pride into the auditorium. However, this was no longer an auditorium. This was our arena, our bridge to keep. We only had to fight the nervousness and terror long enough for the rush of adrenaline to force out of our mouths the famous words written so long before. “Lars Porsena of Clusium by the Nine Gods he swore that the great House of Tarquin should suffer wrong no more.” My months of preparation had not been for naught. I marched out of that arena with a piece of paper that said, “Zero mistakes. Well done, Mary Grace!” and a smile as wide as the Tiber. I had conquered the unconquerable. I had kept my