Big Apple History . Building the Big Apple . More than a Bridge


	"The Voice of the City of New York Interpreted: The Bridge," 1920-22, by Joseph Stella

From the beginning, the Brooklyn Bridge had an impact not only on transportation in New York, but also on people's thoughts and feelings. Towering above the Manhattan skyline, the bridge seemed to symbolize the new modern world America was beginning to represent.

Over the past century, the bridge has inspired musicians, poets, artists, photographers, and filmmakers. And each has used it in different ways. In Joseph Stella's 1918 painting, "Brooklyn Bridge", the bridge represented movement and energy. In the 1977 movie SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, the bridge symbolized change and the main character's dreams.

For the poet Hart Crane, the bridge captured the cold beauty of New York. He wrote:.

Down Wall [Street], from girder into street noon leaks,
A rip-tooth of the sky's acetylene [blow torch];
All afternoon the cloud-flown derricks [oil wells] turn...
Thy cables breathe the North Atlantic still.

Illustration: Courtesy of the Newark Museum/Art Resource, New York.