Ippolito by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This brief dramatic piece features a speaker warmly welcoming a visitor and mentioning a mutual friend, Philippo Strozzi, who informed them of the arrival. It resembles the opening lines of a play or a dramatic monologue, encapsulating a moment of formal, almost regal greeting. The short length and conversational style indicate that it is likely part of a larger dramatic work, rather than a standalone lyric poem.

Calm, composed, and aristocratic. The speaker shares these lines with the quiet confidence of someone used to hosting important guests. There’s no warmth per se, but no coldness either — just the polite demeanor of someone of high status.

Longfellow wrote this as part of his dramatic poem *Michael Angelo: A Fragment*, which was published after his death in 1883. The work is a verse drama inspired by Goethe's *Faust* and Browning's dramatic monologues, depicting scenes from Michelangelo Buonarroti's life in Renaissance Florence and Rome. Ippolito de' Medici (1511–1535), an illegitimate member of the Medici family, rose to prominence as a cardinal and played a notable role in Italian politics before his untimely and mysterious death. Longfellow dedicated years to this project, viewing it as one of his most ambitious undertakings. The fragmentary nature of the piece mirrors both the incomplete state of the manuscript and the intentionally episodic, scene-by-scene format that Longfellow chose for the drama.