Poetry Inspired by the Lady Liberty

 

The most famous poem about the Staute of Liberty is the one which is engraved upon a tablet within a pedestal on which the statue stands, by Jewish American poet, Emma Lazarus. She saw the Statue of Liberty as a beacon to the world. Her poem helped raise money for the pedestal, and captured what the statue came to mean to the millions who migrated to the United States seeking freedom. Below is her famous poem, followed by poetry inspired by the Honorable Sir Leonard Conner, a member of the illustrious Mendelssohn Glee Club of NYC, and a poem by former U. S. Congressman Stephen Solari.

 

 

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 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

 

 

 

 

 

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