!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: The Third Day of Christmas: "The New Colossus"

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The Third Day of Christmas: "The New Colossus"

Many people know only the final five lines of the sonnet by Emma Lazarus that is engraved on a tablet on the inner wall of the pedestal on which stands the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. Below is the full text of the poem.1



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!"

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1 The image, "Welcome to the Land of Freedom — Ocean Steamer Passing the Statue of Liberty — Seen from the Steerage Deck" is taken from the July 2, 1887 issue of Leslie's Weekly. Source: http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/nytc/solnytc1943.htm.

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