The New Colossus Totally Explained

Everything about The New Colossus totally explained

"The New Colossus" is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty.

History of the poem

   The poem was written as a donation to an auction of art and literary works conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty", the aim of which was to raise money for the pedestal's construction contribution was solicited by fundraiser William Maxwell Evarts. Initially Lazarus refused, but Constance Cary Harrison convinced her that the statue would be of great significance to immigrants sailing into the harbor .
   "The New Colossus" was the only entry read at the exhibit's opening but was forgotten and played no role at the opening of the statue in 1886. In 1901, Lazarus' friend, Georgina Schuyler, began an effort to memorialize Lazarus and her poem and succeeded in 1903, when a plaque bearing the text of the poem was mounted on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty .
Missing comma
The line "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" has read "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" on the plaque hanging inside the Statue of Liberty since its unveiling in 1903.
Contents

   The title of the poem and the first two lines refer to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The poem talks about the millions of immigrants who came to the United States (many of them through Ellis Island at the port of New York).
Impact

   Author John T. Cunningham wrote that "The Statue of Liberty wasn't conceived and sculpted as a symbol of immigration, but it quickly became so as immigrant ships passed under the statue. However, it was Lazarus' poem that permanently stamped on Miss Liberty the role of unofficial greeter of incoming immigrants" . James Russell Lowell wrote that the poem gave the Statue of Liberty a "raison d'etre" and Paul Auster wrote that "Bartholdi's gigantic effigy was originally intended as a monument to the principles of international republicanism, but 'The New Colossus' reinvented the statue's purpose, turning Liberty into a welcoming mother, a symbol of hope to the outcasts and downtrodden of the world" .

Further Information
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