Saturday, February 28, 2009

Emma Lazarus ( please, we changed our minds)

"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 lift my lamp beside the golden door!

from The New Colossus (1883)

quiz: where is that inscribed?
can you do it without googling?

10 comments:

David Edward said...

http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm

carmilevy said...

That's a classic...anyone with family who's gone through Ellis Island knows this one. Thanks for the glimpse back, David. It was good to feel a shot of history on this quiet Saturday morning.

Tanya says hi, as do I. If the cold eases off a bit, I may even make it outside with the camera today. Here's hoping...

Man Named Kim said...

i was just in NYC over last Thanksgiving. We visited liberty and Ellis Islands. The excerpt is from the poem written on the occasion of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty - I believe.

NetChick sent me.

Mojo said...

Well yeah... anybody who went to school here in the States should know you'd find that at the Statue of Liberty

Anonymous said...

Never been there, but knew the origin almost right away. Unfortunately, from the outside, the US doesn't seem nearly as welcoming as it must have been when that quote was selected.

Kathryn said...

I assume the "please, we changed our minds" refers to the apparent hatred of immigrants these days?

David Edward said...

Kathryn, I don't know if it is full blown hatred, yet. I am sure that I am full up with the wretched refuse of teeming shores clogging the streets and schools. Immigrants are one thing, Illegals, and particularly criminal illegals are another.

Bobkat said...

The Statue of Liberty of course. (I knew this even as a Brit and before I saw the other comments). Which was somewhere I didn't get to visit when I was last in NYC and so will do it next time. The queue to go to the island was so long!

It's a wonderful concept and one we should stick too today. As you say though, we just need to separate out the genuine cases from the illegal and criminal ones.

Netchick sent me by again, but I like coming over :)

Windfall Woman said...

Those words are just so beautiful. How welcoming! How fitting that they'd be from a lady in NY!

Snaggle Tooth said...

I've never seen the plaque, but have heard about it from many folks.
Funny title-