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 standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to be free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Words in this poem
- astride adv.
- With one leg on each side, as a man when on horseback; with the legs stretched wide apart; astraddle. [Pref. a- + stride.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The New Colossus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/the-new-colossus.html, id L01918.
Form and metre
The New Colossus is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBAC-CDCD fameA · landB · standB · flameA · nameA · handB · commandB · frameA · sheC · poor · freeC · shoreD · meC · doorD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With conquering limbs astride from land to land; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand | 10 | ··/··/···· |
| A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand | 10 | /˘·/···/˘· |
| Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Your huddled masses yearning to be free, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.