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“The New Colossus” is an Italian sonnet, which is a type of poem with a strict formal structure. Italian sonnets consist of two parts, each with their own distinct rhyme scheme. The first part is an eight-line section called an octave, and the second part is a six-line section called a sestet. In a conventional Italian sonnet, the octave describes some kind of difficulty or poses a problem, and the sestet offers a response or a solution. The transition between the octave and the sestet—and thus between the problem and the solution—is known as the volta, which is the Italian word for “turn.” It’s worth noting here, too, that the earliest Italian sonnets were love poems written by the fourteenth-century poet Francis Petrarch. As such, the problems and solutions most typical for the Italian sonnet conventionally relate to the trials and tribulations of love.

Lazarus’s sonnet both does and does not conform to the traditional Italian sonnet structure. “The New Colossus” conforms to the sonnet structure by having a distinct octave and sestet, each of which are organized according to the appropriate rhyme schemes. The octave rhymes ABBAABBA, and the sestet rhymes CDECDE. However, these two sections depart slightly from the usual thematic structure. That is, the octave doesn’t present a problem, nor does the sestet offer a solution. Furthermore, the poem has nothing to do with romantic love. Arguably, though, these departures from the Petrarchan model of the Italian sonnet are minor, and there is still a clear volta between the poem’s two parts. The speaker opens by describing the New Colossus and distinguishing her welcoming maternal nature from the commanding patriarchal presence of the old Greek model of the colossus. After introducing this “Mother of Exiles” (line 6) in the octave, the speaker makes a turn in the sestet and allows the New Colossus to speak for herself. In this way, the two parts of the poem are marked by the different voices we hear in each.

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