The New Colossus

The New Colossus is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883, as a contribution to an art portfolio, the aim of which was to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, New York. It was engraved on a bronze tablet and put inside the base of the Statue in 1903, 20 years later after Emma had wrote it.

Portraits

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  New Colossus plaque
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Multimedia

• The New Colossus sonnet

It states:

   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!"