20 pages • 40 minutes read
Emma LazarusThe New Colossus
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1883A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Ancient Versus Modern
By forming a contrast between the Colossus of Rhodes from antiquity and the “New Colossus” of the Statue of Liberty, the poem employs the theme of ancient versus modern. The “brazen giant of Greek fame” (Line 1) with “conquering limbs” (Line 2) represents that age-old perspective that sought power and disdained the weak. For centuries after the heights of Greek and Roman dominance, those civilizations were revered and celebrated by many. The art, architecture, and literature produced during those periods were labeled as “classical” and served as models and inspiration for succeeding generations. Indeed, many would consider the Statue of Liberty to follow in that tradition, calling it a Neoclassical work for taking a Roman goddess, Libertas, as its subject.
However, the poem’s title asserts there is a “New Colossus” in town. It too is “mighty” (Line 4) and actually does the classical model one better by bearing a torch “whose flame / Is the imprisoned lightning” (Lines 4-5)—presumably a reference to electricity, which was a new resource of the time. Rather than expressing admiration for or even acknowledging a debt to antiquity, the poem scorns the older civilizations in the imagined speech of the statue, saying, “‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’” (Line 9). Instead, the statue invites those whom tradition deems worthless or of no account: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore’” (Lines 10-12). Of course, such an invitation is counterintuitive since these are not people who are considered valuable by their home countries. The implication, then, is that the Modern Age values people over traditions, institutions, titles, and the like; all people have worth and dignity regardless of their wealth, status, or lack thereof.
European Versus American
The United States of America was established by people who emigrated from Europe to North America. Originally colonists under the dominion of European states, they likely thought of themselves as Europeans and as champions of European civilization. That perspective changed with the Declaration of Independence and the defeat of British forces in the Revolutionary War. The former colonists now thought of themselves as Americans, but that self-concept of being European could not just vanish; they were still very much European in their culture and attitudes. However, Americans rarely missed an opportunity to insist on American superiority, and that tendency persists to this day. “The New Colossus” follows this tendency to assert American superiority. For it immediately declares that the new is “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame” (Line 1). This American colossus does not exhibit “conquering limbs astride from land to land” (Line 2) but is nonetheless “mighty” (Line 4) with its torch of “imprisoned lightning” (Line 5). Additionally, its “mild eyes command / The air-bridged harbor” (Lines 7-8), suggesting the figure does not need to inspire fear or dread to exert power; it is therefore confident and assured. Most tellingly, the statue explicitly rejects European culture and the prestige it is thought to possess, saying, “‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’” (Line 9). Instead, the statue–and by extension, America–welcomes those seen to be undesirable in the traditional sense: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Lines 10-11). The distinctive feature of these people from the American standpoint is not that they are “‘tired’” or “‘poor’” but that they are “‘yearning to breathe free’”; the promise of greater freedoms in the United States than those that exist in European countries has always been a source of pride for Americans and a support for the claim of American superiority. Yet the poem’s claim for American superiority does not end there; the last line presents America as the land of opportunity as the statue says, “‘I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” (Line 14). The poem implicitly argues that the lowest of the low can come to the United States and enjoy a greater station in life than would ever be afforded to them in Europe.
Male Versus Female
The Colossus of Rhodes was a male figure, the Greek sun god Helios. The Statue of Liberty is a female figure, Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. “The New Colossus” imagines the male figure in predictable terms: a “brazen giant” (Line 1) whose “conquering limbs astride from land to land” (Line 2). In other words, as befitting any depiction of a god by its devotees, it is thought to project a sense of power and majesty. Such a figure reflects the traits traditionally associated with the male domain: strength, authority, dominance. The traditionally female traits, then, are thought to be the opposite of these: weakness, subordination, submission. However, the image of the statue, as well as how it is described in the poem, is very different from the expected.
First, the figure is called “A mighty woman” (Line 4), insisting on her strength being on par with the male counterpart. Also, she holds “a torch, whose flame / Is the imprisoned lightning” (Lines 4-5). In other words, this woman is not passive but active, providing light, which, as harnessed “lightning,” just makes her all the more impressive. Naming her “Mother of Exiles” (Line 6) may invoke a more traditional female sensibility with connotations of nurturing and humility. These impressions are supported by the statement, “From her beacon-hand / Glows world-wide welcome” (Lines 6-7), arguably a nurturing and, therefore, feminine action. However, by saying “her mild eyes command / The air-bridged harbor” (Lines 7-8), the poem affirms the traditionally feminine quality in the “mild eyes” but simultaneously contradicts this sense with the verb “command.” In other words, the poem contradicts the traditional idea that a woman cannot be both nurturing and assertive, both “mild” and “command[ing].”
Significantly it is not only the “eyes” that “command” (Line 7), for the poem gives voice to the statue and imagines the figure issuing three commands to Europe. First, she says, “‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’” (Line 9). Second, she says, “‘Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Lines 10-11). Third, she says, “‘Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me” (Line 13). In each statement the figure uses an imperative verb, literally commanding Europe (here associated with the male domain) to act according to her wishes. Yet those wishes are nurturing, as she offers to take in the most destitute and needy. The suggestion here is that a woman need not be passive and demurring. In fact, it may be even necessary to act imperiously and decisively to be the nurturing person society expects of a woman. All of which, of course, contradict the notion of separate traits and domains for men and women.
