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Overview
“The New Colossus” is a sonnet written by the Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883
. The poem is famously associated with the Statue of Liberty, a historic landmark that stands on Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay. Based on Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty, the statue was originally conceived to mark the centennial of U.S. Independence. However, Lazarus’s powerful poem reframes the statue’s significance, transforming Libertas into a “Mother of Exiles” (line 6) who welcomes immigrants from all corners of the world. Lazarus’s poem was cast in bronze and mounted to the pedestal in 1903, forever linking it to the statue and its symbolism of American promise and freedom.Read the free full text, a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of famous quotes from “The New Colossus.”
