Emma Lazarus and the Golem of Liberty

Marmoreal Sisterhoods: Classical Statuary in Nineteenth-Century Women’s Writing

“…58 Acutely aware of the discrimination experienced by her own race in the Russian pogroms of 1881 and 1882, Lazarus was increasingly politically active, advocating the resettlement of Jews in Palestine. 59 However, her transgressive act is veiled by the 'womanly' nature of the sentiments expressed by the Statue of Liberty. As Lazarus's poem shows, the statue is no aggressive victor like the Colossus of Rhodes, that 'brazen giant of Greek fame' who stands 'With conquering limbs astride from land to land', but a nurturing 'Mother of Exiles' (p. 233).…”