August 22, 2019
The Colossus Harlot
Timothy Birdnow
When Emma Lazarus (an interesting name in itself, given Lazarus was resurrected from the dead, much like the Colossus of which the poetess writes) wrote her famous poem for the Statue of Liberty, she entitled it The New Colossus and based her poem on the inscription that was placed on the original Colossus of Rhodes which read:
The original was very militaristic, a triumphal verse to honor Helios, the god of the sun, for saving Rhodes. Lazarus didn't like the male-centric nature of the poem and, since the Statue of Liberty was going to be a woman anyway, she feminized the inscription:
Lazarus wrote this poem as a way to help raise money for the construction of the "new Colossus" at the behest of her former Confederate friend Constance Cary Harrison. Lazarus, it must be pointed out, was a committed Zionist who wanted eastern European Jews to settle in Palestine, not America.
Daniel Greenfield gives us a great rundown on the Lazarus story and why the Progressives get it all wrong.
Greenfield points out:
Certainly Lazarus did not intend this as some sort of foundational document. She simply made the point that the stone Europe rejected had become the cornerstone. The Statue of Liberty was not about immigration; Lazarus made it so only insofar as she needed to invent a new purpose for the statue, one that differed from the militarism of the Rhodes Colossus.
And, too, remember the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France and not a native work. It was, in fact, largely disdained by Americans while it was under construction. It was assembled in France, then dismantled and brought to America. But America was where most of the money to complete the project was raised. In fact, President Grant was lukewarm on the proposal, since the pedestal the statue was to rest upon would cost America money. He only agreed to help with the project when it was promised the statue would be on an island, would act as a lighthouse. It didn't work out that way. Oh, and Joseph Pulitzer, the newspaper magnate, had to fund a sizable portion of the statue.
At any rate, the poem by Lazarus (a woman who never married I might add, a sort of vestal virgin of literature) is out of date and needs to be updated. Here is what I see the new poem should be like:
When Emma Lazarus (an interesting name in itself, given Lazarus was resurrected from the dead, much like the Colossus of which the poetess writes) wrote her famous poem for the Statue of Liberty, she entitled it The New Colossus and based her poem on the inscription that was placed on the original Colossus of Rhodes which read:
"To you, O Sun, the people of Dorian Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus, when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city with the spoils taken from the enemy. Not only over the seas but also on land did they kindle the lovely torch of freedom and independence. For to the descendants of Herakles belongs dominion over sea and land."
The original was very militaristic, a triumphal verse to honor Helios, the god of the sun, for saving Rhodes. Lazarus didn't like the male-centric nature of the poem and, since the Statue of Liberty was going to be a woman anyway, she feminized the inscription:
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!
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!
Lazarus wrote this poem as a way to help raise money for the construction of the "new Colossus" at the behest of her former Confederate friend Constance Cary Harrison. Lazarus, it must be pointed out, was a committed Zionist who wanted eastern European Jews to settle in Palestine, not America.
Daniel Greenfield gives us a great rundown on the Lazarus story and why the Progressives get it all wrong.
The New Colossus was only added to the Statue of Liberty much later - in 1903. It was largely forgotten until then.
Harrison had first approached Mark Twain, who turned it down with his typical satirical approach:
Lazarus said no at first too, but in the end she wrote the poem.
Harrison had first approached Mark Twain, who turned it down with his typical satirical approach:
"What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We’ve given her a home.â€
Lazarus said no at first too, but in the end she wrote the poem.
Greenfield points out:
Twain’s sardonic comments had gotten at the problem with the Statue of Liberty. Its theme was Liberty Enlightening the World, but what did that mean? Did it mean that Americans were meant to export freedom to the world: a notion that would eventually drive American foreign policy in the 20th century?
That was the vision of some of the French activists involved with gifting the Statue of Liberty to America.
Emma Lazarus hadn’t seen the giant woman who would become the Statue of Liberty, but the obvious reference point for a giant statue in a more classical age was the Colossus of Rhodes. Unlike the ancient Greek statue, the American colossus would match it size for size, but would be female. It would not stand to celebrate a military victory, but to welcome visitors, many of them immigrants, to New York.
By welcoming in people from foreign dictatorships, American liberty would enlighten the world. Not by invading and conquering other countries, but by allowing oppressed people to live freely in America.
The central image of The New Colossus welcoming immigrants though didn’t come from Emma though, but from Harrison, the wife of the private secretary of Jefferson Davis, who as a teenager had lost most of her family, and had spied for the Confederacy in Washington D.C.
"Think of that Goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder in the bay, and holding her torch out to those Russian refugees of yours you are so fond of visiting at Ward’s Island,†Harrison had told her.
It was Emma Lazarus who dramatized it, harnessing the romantic vision, mingling classic Greek references with a modern American take into, "A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.â€
The woman embodied the contrast between America and Europe. The Statue of Liberty had been a message from France to America about our place in the world. Emma’s poem, The New Colossus, continued the dialogue, with a response from America to Europe about our idea of liberty.
That was the vision of some of the French activists involved with gifting the Statue of Liberty to America.
Emma Lazarus hadn’t seen the giant woman who would become the Statue of Liberty, but the obvious reference point for a giant statue in a more classical age was the Colossus of Rhodes. Unlike the ancient Greek statue, the American colossus would match it size for size, but would be female. It would not stand to celebrate a military victory, but to welcome visitors, many of them immigrants, to New York.
By welcoming in people from foreign dictatorships, American liberty would enlighten the world. Not by invading and conquering other countries, but by allowing oppressed people to live freely in America.
The central image of The New Colossus welcoming immigrants though didn’t come from Emma though, but from Harrison, the wife of the private secretary of Jefferson Davis, who as a teenager had lost most of her family, and had spied for the Confederacy in Washington D.C.
"Think of that Goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder in the bay, and holding her torch out to those Russian refugees of yours you are so fond of visiting at Ward’s Island,†Harrison had told her.
It was Emma Lazarus who dramatized it, harnessing the romantic vision, mingling classic Greek references with a modern American take into, "A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.â€
The woman embodied the contrast between America and Europe. The Statue of Liberty had been a message from France to America about our place in the world. Emma’s poem, The New Colossus, continued the dialogue, with a response from America to Europe about our idea of liberty.
Certainly Lazarus did not intend this as some sort of foundational document. She simply made the point that the stone Europe rejected had become the cornerstone. The Statue of Liberty was not about immigration; Lazarus made it so only insofar as she needed to invent a new purpose for the statue, one that differed from the militarism of the Rhodes Colossus.
And, too, remember the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France and not a native work. It was, in fact, largely disdained by Americans while it was under construction. It was assembled in France, then dismantled and brought to America. But America was where most of the money to complete the project was raised. In fact, President Grant was lukewarm on the proposal, since the pedestal the statue was to rest upon would cost America money. He only agreed to help with the project when it was promised the statue would be on an island, would act as a lighthouse. It didn't work out that way. Oh, and Joseph Pulitzer, the newspaper magnate, had to fund a sizable portion of the statue.
At any rate, the poem by Lazarus (a woman who never married I might add, a sort of vestal virgin of literature) is out of date and needs to be updated. Here is what I see the new poem should be like:
The red of the setting sun frames the great sullied dame
atop the rock with hand aflame
her youth she shone of virtue and dignity, a symbol of hope from sea to sea
now her tarnish dulls her gloss, defiled by lovers and her own eros
The new collosus withered and old her youthful favors all been sold
to lovers who defile her innocence, a parade of lechery, ungrateful immigrants
the fornications, the filthy bed
now form the curse that crowns her head
Mystery Babylon, the harlot of the east
Colossus is now the image of the beast
"send one, send all" she greedily cries
while in her lust America dies
her insatiable lust for those who do not love her
and rejection of those who call her mother
Have left the People orphans crying
while Liberty is surely dying.
Where once stood beacon bright with fire
the flame now threatens to expire
snuffed by those call her whore
still she lights her lamp above her door
atop the rock with hand aflame
her youth she shone of virtue and dignity, a symbol of hope from sea to sea
now her tarnish dulls her gloss, defiled by lovers and her own eros
The new collosus withered and old her youthful favors all been sold
to lovers who defile her innocence, a parade of lechery, ungrateful immigrants
the fornications, the filthy bed
now form the curse that crowns her head
Mystery Babylon, the harlot of the east
Colossus is now the image of the beast
"send one, send all" she greedily cries
while in her lust America dies
her insatiable lust for those who do not love her
and rejection of those who call her mother
Have left the People orphans crying
while Liberty is surely dying.
Where once stood beacon bright with fire
the flame now threatens to expire
snuffed by those call her whore
still she lights her lamp above her door
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:25 AM
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