The new Colossus by Emma Lazarus - Analysis

`The new Colossus´ by Emma Lazarus

Analysis

The Italian Sonnet `The new Colossus´ written by Emma Lazarus and released in 1883 deals with the Statue of Liberty in America and immigration to America in the 19th century. In the first stanza the Statue of Liberty is compared to the Colossus of Rhodes which is the “brazen giant of Greek fame” (l. 1).

But by the use of the negation “not” in front of the quotation above it becomes obvious that the poet is not talking of the ancient Colossus, which depicted/represented the sun god Helios, and which stood at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes with spread legs, letting the ships passing by below.

This is described in the first two lines.

From the last two lines of the stanza up to the end the Statue of Liberty is described and it is said where it is located, what it stands for and which symbolic meaning it has.  That is what the poem is about and what will be analysed in the following.

To begin with, the poem is a sonnet because it has two stanzas containing four lines and two stanzas containing three lines. It becomes evident that the poem is divided into two parts. The poem is grouped into two sense units, the first two - and the last two stanzas.

Moreover the rhyme scheme backs up this effect because the first two stanzas build an enclosed rhyme with (the scheme) `a-b-b-a´ and the last two stanzas built an enclosed rhyme too, but with the scheme `c-d-c´ and `d-c-d´. Moreover, an enjambment between line 4 of the first stanza and line 5 of the second stanza makes, clear once again, that these two stanzas belong together.

The rhyme scheme does not create the impression of regularity but is neither monotonous. It is just the case that the last two stanzas create a new metre of rhyme because in 1883 the people were still conservative and traditional.

As a result, these two stanzas could represent the spirit of the new America which invites outsiders and poor people as immigrants from ancient Europe.

In addition to that, the language is elevated which underlines the feeling of high standard. The poet also makes use of figurative and rhetorical language in order to make the reader think about what he or she is reading and let him or her keep it in mind. Moreover, the poem is made unique because not everyone understands .....[read full text]

This idea is backed up by the alliteration in “world-wide welcome” (l.7) to glow in the “beacon-hand” of the Statue of Liberty. It is used to get the reader keep the words in mind.

Furthermore, in line 7, there is another personification and metaphor which says  that “her mild eyes command” but the Statue of Liberty is made of stone and can’t have mild eyes that command. This description gives the Statue the character of a warm- hearted but also determined person.

Then, in line 8 the reader is confronted with a metaphorical meaning: “The air-bridged harbour that twin cities frame”. This sentence lets the reader think about its meaning because it is very difficult understand the message. The twin cities the poet refers to are New York and Brooklyn because Brooklyn was a separate city and with the air-bridge the Brooklyn Bridge could be meant which was opened the same year when Emma Lazarus released her poem.

In the past, bridges were innovative and as a result, readers and immigrants were attracted by the image of a modern new country called America which develops faster than Europe.

Furthermore, in ll. 9 ff it seems as if  the Statue of Liberty speaks directly to the reader which is a metaphor because a statue is not able to speak. But it is said that the statue “cries […] with silent lips” ,which is also a contrast and should let the reader imagine that the statue is serious about its words but can’t cry it out loud because it is a statue.

Moreover, the statue summons the tired, poor and huddled masses (ll.10-11) to come to America and start a new life. Then with the enumeration in the sentence: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses […]” the poet addresses Europe to let their tired and poor people immigrate to America.

The enumeration stresses/ underlines that America does not address only one group of the European so.....

As a result, America as an open-minded nation in the past and also in the present is a pipe dream. The poem can be classified as a patriotic poem because the author only mentions positive aspects of America.

As a conclusion, the reader sees the Statue of Liberty as a national symbol of America which stands for the ideals and hopes the Americans have. Furthermore the reader does not get to know anything about human rights abuse in American history.

Today we know what happened but at the time the poem was released most of the people who immigrated were .....