The New Colossus

by Emma Lazarus

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 lightening, 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-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

COMMENTS

The title of the above poem alludes to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, a huge bronze statue that stood at the city's harbor, representing the much larger mythological god Helios, thought by Greek mythology to stand astride the harbor.

Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), a Portuguese Jewish immigrant, penned the poem and won the contest held in 1883 to find a suitable inscription to go on a plaque for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Those linking from the Franks poem, She Lifts Her Lamp, may also wish to compare that poem with the anti-tyranny poem The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls, by Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Click here to return to the General Reference Room.

Or go to Maurice Franks's poem, She Lifts Her Lamp.

Or go to Thomas Moore's The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls.

Or go to Maurice Franks's Writings.

Copyright © 2010 by M. R. Franks - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED