Lady Liberty and The American Dream
In the Italian sonnet, a premise is set up in the octave, or first eight lines, of the sonnet and the sestet, or the last six lines, of the sonnet focus on either supporting, changing, or contradicting that premise (Hacker 298). Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” uses the Italian sonnet form, and closely follows this octave and sestet structure. Lazarus’s use of the Italian sonnet form constructs an interesting story itself, where the octave and sestet both represent different ideas of what a statue could stand for.
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In this poem, Lazarus is writing about the Statue of Liberty and what it represents. She begins her sonnet with, “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame / With conquering limbs astride from land to land” (Lazarus, 305), which immediately sets up new ideas surrounding statues. In this first line of the octave, she asserts that this statue is not your usual statue, and her word choice of ‘brazen’ and ‘conquering’ suggests that the statue she is talking about, Lady Liberty, symbolizes more than victory and accomplishment. Later on in the poem, she makes similar word choices to depict the Statue of Liberty as a humble, welcoming beacon of hope. She refers to the statue as the “Mother of Exiles,” and describes the statue to have “mild eyes” and “silent lips” (Lazarus 305). This is how she transitions from the octave into the sestet. She ends the octave with both a description of the statue and what it stands for, then begins the sestet by personifying the statue and continues by making it representative for the American dream. Lady Liberty symbolizes hope and new beginnings, which Lazarus makes clear in the sestet by creating dialogue for Lady Liberty, in which she says, “‘Give me your tired, your poor,” and later, “I lift my lamp beside the golden door” (Lazarus, 305). This sestet provides a new meaning for the statue, for America, and for the fate of immigrants. Lady Liberty is welcoming everyone with open arms, and guiding them to their future of freedom.
Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U of Michigan P, 2002, p. 305.
