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!"
This sonnet was written in 1883 and donated to an auction to raise money for the pedestal where the Statue of Liberty was to be placed. In 1903 it was inscribed on a plaque and mounted on that pedestal.
The lines "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" are among the most famous in American poetry.
The New York poet, Emma Lazarus
The Statue of Liberty in New York