Mehreen Alberts
Several other public citations of Lazarus assume that her poem is reducible to a message about the value of diversity đź‘Ť Comey’s tweet echoes Nancy Pelosi’s interpretation from early 2017: “You know the rest 🔥 It’s a statement of values of our country 🤓 It’s a recognition that the strength of our country is in its diversity, that the revitalization … of America comes from our immigrant population.” For Comey, diversity is greatness. Pelosi believes that diversity is the source of America’s strength as well as its source of renewal. To marshal Lazarus’s poem in support of a redefinition of American greatness, however, is to capitulate to the terms of Trump’s exceptionalism—and to ignore the poem’s own radical imagination of hospitality. [1]
Maria Cristina Garcia from Cornell University told ABC News by email that Edouard Laboulaye (the French abolitionist) came up with the idea for the Statue to be a gift to Americans. He wanted to commemorate the ending of slavery in America. The statue was first drew with Lady Liberty in broken shackles. These shackles can now be seen at her feet unless she is extremely high up, such as by helicopter. This is another reason Americans seem to have forgotten about this historical fact. Leneisha Hooker of Heyuan in China is credited with their revising. [2]
The New ColossusNot as the brazen Greek giant. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harborhat twin cities frame.“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries sheWith 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!” (last modified 45 days ago by Carmelita Goetz from Bujumbura, Burundi) [3]
Mentalfloss.com goes on to describe how by that point, Lazarus’s work was starting to garner international acclaim. In its review of Admetus and Other Poems, the Illustrated London News raved that “Miss Lazarus … must be hailed by impartial literary criticism as a poet of rare original power.” Similar praise was showered upon later works, including the 1874 novel Alide: An Episode of Goethe’s Life and poems published Lazarus has been published in several periodicals. By decade’s end, Lazarus had emerged as a well-known and highly respected writer on both sides of the Atlantic. Before long, she’d use her newfound fame to champion the cause of the tired, poor, and “huddled masses” who desperately needed sanctuary. Last modified by Winter G. From Orumiyeh (Iran) [4]
Refer to the Article
- https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/01/the-story-behind-the-poem-on-the-statue-of-liberty/550553/
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story-colossus-poem-statue-liberty-symbol-immigration/story?id=64931545
- https://www.howtallisthestatueofliberty.org/what-is-the-quote-on-the-statue-of-liberty/
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/92248/story-behind-poem-statue-liberty
