The New Colossus

Emma Lazarus

1849 –1887

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!”

This poem is in the public domain.

Emma Lazarus
Photo credit: Engraving by T. Johnson, 1872. Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society.

A descendant of Sephardic Jews who immigrated to the United States from Portugal around the time of the American Revolution, Emma Lazarus was a Jewish American poet and translator. Her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is inscribed on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty monument.

About Emma Lazarus

(Poets.org)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *