Talk:The New Colossus

Emma Lazarus, author of The New Colossus, whose poetry is recorded on the pedastal of the Statue of Liberty, was herself the daughter of immigrants from the Colonial period. Asked to write a sonnet to raise funds for the Liberty Statue's pedastal, she did so only reluctantly. The poem is famous for the Statue's words, spoken as Lazarus wrote them, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

These famous words have gone down in history, inspiring the newer immigrants with the statue's "welcoming light", written by one whose own parents had felt that welcome years earlier. Interestingly, her parents were devout Jews, whose new home from the days of George Washington had welcomed openly and kindly their religious persuasion in a letter to a synagogue on the colonies. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.5.201.133 (talk) 23:38, January 18, 2009