The speaker of “The New Colossus” is anonymous, which means we don’t have specific information about the speaker’s name, age, social class, gender, or race. Instead of foregrounding any of these aspects of personal identity, the speaker emphasizes how proud he or she is to be a citizen of the United States. More specifically, the speaker is committed to a vision of the U.S. as a place of refuge for immigrants. This vision is communicated partly through the use of elevated and idealized language to champion the New Colossus, who, as the “Mother of Exiles” (line 6), welcomes those coming from abroad. The speaker’s commitment to this vision becomes more explicit in the final lines, where the speaker abandons his or her own voice and ventriloquizes the New Colossus. Crying out “with silent lips” (line 10), the New Colossus calls for the “ancient lands” (line 9) of Europe to send their “wretched” (line 12) and “homeless” (line13) to the shining shores of the New World. The speaker’s evident commitment to the concept of America as a haven for immigrants strongly suggests that he or she is also an immigrant, or perhaps the child of immigrants. The speaker wants to extend this legacy of refuge from which he or she has personally benefitted.

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