eokane@charm.UUCP (Evan Kane) (05/06/84)
"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!"
Inscription on the Statue of Liberty,
by Emma Lazarus
The Lady or the Flag
In New York City's harbor
A famous Statue stands.
No need to even tell you,
It's known in every land.
I always love my country,
I sometimes fear my flag,
But I always love that Statue
And the things for which it stands.
For a flag is flown in battle,
But I want a better way
To build with strength and purpose
For our children's future days,
And a flag is pride and boasting,
And I`ve heard the old refrain
"My country, whether right or wrong"
When my heart was filled with shame.
Many Nations fear us
For the role our Flag has played,
But they all admire the Statue
And the promises she's made.
Yes, the Statue has compassion
For all pain and misery,
And I dearly love that symbol,
The Statue of Sympathy.
And someday, for our leader,
I pray that I may see
Someone whose first commitment
Is the Statue of Liberty.
Evan Kane 5/5/84amigo@iwpba.UUCP (amigo) (05/10/84)
Evan Kane quotes Emma Lazarus'poem: >> "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!" >> >> Inscription on the Statue of Liberty, Speaking as an immigrant to the United States (from England via Canada), I want to say that I dislike this poem intensely. I am not "wretched refuse" nor a "huddled mass." I always feel insulted by this poem. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL ihnp4!iwpba!amigo (NOTE TEMPORARY MACHINE)
eokane@charm.UUCP (Evan Kane) (05/11/84)
Poetry deals in metaphor and symbolism and is thereby
less precise than prose in the hands of a logician or a lawyer
or even a scientist like myself. I prefer to write poetry
because it is more directly assimilated by the emotions and
therefore has more impact.
There is always the risk (if you think you have a message)
that your symbols may not mean the same to other people as
they mean to you.From John Hobson's remarks I regretfully
learn that this is the case with Emma Lazarus' poem
inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
To me the words suggest compassion. I interpret the
phrases "huddled masses" and "wretched refuse" to refer
to the economic condition of the refugees and their
treatment in their native land. To me, the extended
welcome symbolizes a recognition of their intrinsic
worth as human beings and is not condescension.
Evan Kane 5/10/84dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (05/11/84)
It's pretty easy for "huddled masses" and "wretched refuse" to be taken as condescending. At least some Americans *are* pretty arrogant about how wonderful the U.S.A. is compared to the rest of the world. Once a non-American gets tired of hearing that attitude, it's pretty easy to read it in places where it might not have been intended. Actually, I should change "non-American" to something a bit broader.
pjm@spuxll.UUCP (05/11/84)
My parents were also immigrants. I dont think they were offended at
all by the poem on the Statue of Liberty. It is trting to describe the
US the way it was perceived by many people ie. as the land of
oppurtunity etc. You can call that corny but many people believed it
came here and bettered their lot in life while making MANY SIGNIFICANT
contributions to their new homeland. If you think it is a trivial
undertaking to transplant a family from a native country to one where
you dont understand the language and dont know many people then you
should talk to some first generation americans who have been through it.
I can almost guarantee that they would not be offended by being called
'wretched huddled masses' or whatever. They wanted what America had to
offer, because, compared to it they were not too far removed from how
the poem described them. If anyone takes offense to this, accept my
apologies. I am sure that not everyone immigrated to this country
because of they were in desperate financial conditions. I beleive
the VAST majority, however did. To these people, the words of the poem
has real meaning and it is anything but offensive.
Sorry if I got carried away..
Paul Maioriello
AT&T ISL
spuxll!pjm