The New Colossus
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The New Colossus is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883, as a contribution to an art portfolio, the aim of which was to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, New York.
The plaque at the Statue of Liberty
- Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
- With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
- Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
- A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
- Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
- Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
- Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
- The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
- "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
- With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
- Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
- The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
- Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
- I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The title of the poem, and the first two lines, refer to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The poem talks about the millions of immigrants that came to the United States (many of them through Ellis Island at the port of New York), and the identity of the United States as a declared immigrant nation.
A plaque with the text of the poem was mounted in 1903 on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.de:The New Colossus