“The New Colossus” Emma Lazarus

Biographies Emma Lazarus

Connect to the Poem Think about a place that evokes vivid memories or creates strong emotions in you. It could be your old neighborhood, a relative’s house, or a special place you have visited. Freewrite for a few minutes about the place you selected. Briefly describe it and tell why it makes you feel the way it does.

Building Background In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, people from around the world immigrated to the United States. Many came with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the dream of a better life. Life during this time was often difficult. Many people had to work long hours in sickening conditions, and equal rights for all people had not yet been established. “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus is the poem engraved on the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands. The Statue of Liberty was a gift given to the United States by France in 1885. It stands in New York Harbor and has become one of the most well- known and beloved symbols of freedom in the United States.

Literary Element: Sonnet A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. Sonnets usually have strict rhyme patterns and deal with a single theme, idea, or emotion. For example, many of William Shakespeare’s sonnets address the topic of love. Sonnets are an important and challenging form of poetry. To identify a sonnet, determine the rhyme pattern at the ends of lines. Also look for iambic pentameter. An iamb is a pair of syllables whose first syllable is unstressed and whose second syllable is stressed (like the word today). Pentameter means the line has five such pairs of syllables. As you read the poems, identify the traits that make them sonnets: Softly tap the rhythm, listen for the end rhymes, and identify the theme.

“The New Colossus” Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset fates 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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Reading Check & Interpretations In “The New Colossus,” how does Emma Lazarus describe the Statue of Liberty? In “The New Colossus,” to what does “the golden door” refer? Imagine you are a newly arrived immigrant to the United States. How would you feel if you saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time? Explain why you think you would feel that way. Which would be more memorable to you: a visit to a historic national monument, such as the Statue of Liberty, or to a famous person’s childhood home? Why?