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Named source · 1883

The New Colossus Quotes by Emma Lazarus: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to The New Colossus by or associated with Emma Lazarus, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
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“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,”

Lazarus reimagines the Statue of Liberty as a welcoming “Mother of Exiles” whose symbolic greatness rests on receiving displaced and struggling people rather than displaying imperial power.

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“The New Colossus,” written November 2, 1883 for the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund and represented by the U.S. National Park Service. The quoted invitation is spoken by Lazarus’s personified statue within a sonnet about immigration and refuge.