The New Colossus

Sonnet by Emma Lazarus, 1883

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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!"

Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus," in 1883. Her goal, help raise money to build a base for which the Statue of Liberty would stand. Today Emma's poem can be read in its full glory on the Statue's pedestal. It lives on forever, etched on a bronze plaque for the world to see.

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