From: ptrei@bistromath.mitre.org (Peter Trei)
Subject: Re: Know the source of Liberty's quote, "tired,huddled masses"?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 04:51:40 GMT

In article <1992Dec31.004219.17196@cbnews.cb.att.com> ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet) writes:
>In article <1992Dec30.190453.16688@linus.mitre.org> ptrei@bistromath.mitre.org (Peter Trei) writes:
>>In article <7kRLwB5w165w@netlink.cts.com> gregb@netlink.cts.com (Greg Beron) writes:
>>>lion@netcom.com (carl loeber) writes:
>>>> Anyone know where that phrase derived on the Statue of Liberty?
>>>
>>>It's part of a poem by Emma (?) Lazarus. 
>>
>>     The quote is from "The New Colossus", a poem by Emma Lazarus,
>>which is an ode to the Statue of Liberty. It closes:
>>
>>     Give me your poor, your tired,
>>     Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.
>>     Send these, the tempest-tossed, to me:
>>     I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door!
>>
>>     Liberty stands on a small island in New York Harbour. Nearby is
>>the larger Ellis Island, for many years the main immigrant processing
>>station for the United States. Millions of immigrants (including my
>>grandfather) spent their first day on US soil in the Liberty's shadow.
>
>
>    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-tossed, to me,
>    I life my lamp beside the golden door!"
>Emma Lazarus
>The New Colossus
>
>
>[ The "ancient lands" cite in the poem is a reference to Shelley's
>  Ozymandias - a  different "colossus" statue fallen with old age
>  and disuse: ]
>
>Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus

     Thanks for correcting and extending my quote - it's been a while 
since I read the poem.

     However, the "brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs
astride from land to land" is NOT a reference to Shelley's
"Ozymandias"; but rather to the Colussus of Rhodes, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. This huge bronze statue stood at the
entrance of the harbour of Rhodes (on Cyprus). Popular myth had it
standing with one foot on each side "limbs astride from shore to
shore", with ships sailing underneath (In reality, the engineering of
the time could not have supported this posture.) It was broken down
for scrap in late classical times. The CofR is the obvious classical
equivalent to Lady Liberty.

     Shelley's "vast and trunkless legs of stone", "standing in the
desert" are said to have been inspired by the Colossi of Memnon (sp?),
two 30-foot seated statues in Eqypt, each carved from a single block
of quartz, transported over a hundred miles from their quarry. They
originally stood in front of a vast temple complex, which is now
farmland.
							Peter Trei
							ptrei@mitre.org