The New Colossus

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1883

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The New Colossus” is rendered as a sonnet: a traditional form consisting of 14 lines in meter and possessing a rhyme scheme. Of the traditional variations of sonnets, this poem, for the most part, follows the pattern of the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet. In this pattern, the first eight lines are called the octave and have an ABBAABBA rhyme scheme. At this point, the Petrarchan sonnet offers a volta, or turn, changing the rhyme scheme for the remaining six lines (called the sestet). Often, this volta also marks a change in thought or tone. In the case of “The New Colossus,” the change comes with the statue itself speaking. The rhyme scheme of the sestet offers the poem’s one deviation from the traditional Petrarchan sonnet by following a CDCDCD pattern instead of the typical CDECDE pattern.

The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, which is five metrical feet with an iamb (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable) comprising each foot. The final two lines scan as follows (stressed syllables appear in boldface):

“Send these, | the home | less temp | est-tost | to me,

I lift | my lamp | beside | the gold | en door!”

Some readers may find a fixed-form poem like the sonnet an odd choice for advocating for the rejection of traditional ideas. One explanation is that free verse had yet to gain wide acceptance in American poetry when the poem was written. Another explanation is that a finely wrought work of art like the Statue of Liberty deserves a finely wrought poem to commemorate it.

Foil

With its reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, “The New Colossus” utilizes the device of a foil. A foil is typically a secondary or minor character who functions to draw attention to admirable or sympathetic traits of the protagonist or primary character. Rather than a character, the old statue is mentioned merely to say the new one is “[n]ot like” it (Line 1). The new statue appears all the more superior by saying the old is different and therefore inferior.

Alliteration

“The New Colossus” offers an example of alliteration in the phrase “world-wide welcome” (Line 7). Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in adjoining words, or at least in words close enough together to convey a sense of repetition. The device draws attention to the phrase and therefore to the idea expressed by it. In this case, the alliteration underscores the idea of the Statue of Liberty inviting immigrants from around the world to America.

Oxymoron

“The New Colossus” utilizes an oxymoron in the clause “cries she / With silent lips” (Lines 9-10). An oxymoron is the use of words with contradictory meanings or a phrase that contradicts itself. Here, though we know that literally “silent lips” do not make any sound, we can ponder in what sense they figuratively do. In this case, the suggestion is that even though the Statue of Liberty is inert, it nevertheless conveys meaning–or, more specifically, the meaning the poem ascribes to the statue.

Personification

Personification is the device of ascribing human qualities or powers to inanimate or non-human objects. “The New Colossus” utilizes this device when the statue speaks in Lines 9-14, inviting the poor and destitute immigrants from around the world to the United States. This idea, of course, is the poem’s own. Placing the idea in the mouth of an admired or revered figure adds to its rhetorical weight.