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"The New Colossus" is a sonnet
Sonnet

The sonnet is one of the Poetry that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian language word sonetto, both meaning "little song"....
 by Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus was an USA poet born in New York City.She is best known for writing "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883; its final lines were engraved on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1912....
 (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty , or, more formally, Liberty Enlightening the World , was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886....
.
History of the poem
The poem was written as a donation to an auction of art and literary works conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty , or, more formally, Liberty Enlightening the World , was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886....
", the aim of which was to raise money for the pedestal's construction The contribution was solicited by fundraiser William Maxwell Evarts.






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"The New Colossus" is a sonnet
Sonnet

The sonnet is one of the Poetry that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian language word sonetto, both meaning "little song"....
 by Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus was an USA poet born in New York City.She is best known for writing "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883; its final lines were engraved on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1912....
 (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty , or, more formally, Liberty Enlightening the World , was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886....
.
New Colossus

History of the poem


The poem was written as a donation to an auction of art and literary works conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty , or, more formally, Liberty Enlightening the World , was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886....
", the aim of which was to raise money for the pedestal's construction The contribution was solicited by fundraiser William Maxwell Evarts. Initially Lazarus refused, but Constance Cary Harrison
Constance Cary Harrison

Constance Cary Harrison , was an American writer. She was also known as Constance Cary, Constance C. Harrison, and Mrs. Burton Harrison. She was married to Burton Harrison, a lawyer and American democratic politician....
 convinced her that the statue would be of great significance to immigrants sailing into the harbor .

"The New Colossus" was the only entry read at the exhibit's opening, but was forgotten and played no role at the opening of the statue in 1886. In 1901, Lazarus' friend, Georgina Schuyler, began an effort to memorialize Lazarus and her poem, which succeeded in 1903 when a plaque bearing the text of the poem was mounted on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty .

The line "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" has read "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" on the plaque hanging inside the Statue of Liberty since its unveiling in 1903.

Contents


The title of the poem and the first two lines refer to the Colossus of Rhodes
Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek god Helios, erected on the Greece island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos between 292 and 280 BC....
, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the World is a well known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity. It was based on guide-books popular among Ancient Greece tourists and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim....
. The poem talks about the millions of immigrants who came to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 (many of them through Ellis Island
Ellis Island

Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, is the location of what was from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954 the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States; the facility replaced the state-run Castle Clinton in Manhattan....
 at the port of New York).

The "air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame" refers to New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 and Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, not yet consolidated into one unit
City of Greater New York

The City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Staten Island, Brooklyn, the western part of Queens, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx ....
 in 1883.

Impact


Author John T. Cunningham wrote that "The Statue of Liberty was not conceived and sculpted as a symbol of immigration, but it quickly became so as immigrant ships passed under the statue. However, it was Lazarus' poem that permanently stamped on Miss Liberty the role of unofficial greeter of incoming immigrants" .

James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell was an United States Romanticism poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets....
 wrote that the poem gave the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty , or, more formally, Liberty Enlightening the World , was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886....
 a "raison d'etre
Raison D'être

Raison d'?tre is a phrase borrowed from French where it means simply "reason for being"; in English use it also comes to suggest a degree of rationalization, as "The claimed reason for the existence of something or someone"....
" and Paul Auster
Paul Auster

Paul Benjamin Auster is a Brooklyn-based author known for works blending absurdism and crime fiction, such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace and Brooklyn Follies ....
 wrote that "Bartholdi's gigantic effigy was originally intended as a monument to the principles of international republicanism, but 'The New Colossus' reinvented the statue's purpose, turning Liberty into a welcoming mother, a symbol of hope to the outcasts and downtrodden of the world" .

External links

  • from (Library of Congress website)