'''The New Colossus''' is a [[Petrarchan sonnet]] written in 1883 by Emma Lazarus. It is engraved on a plaque at the [[Statue of Liberty]]. The work is often times promoted by the media as a policy statement about immigration, however it is nothing more than an aspirational poem.<ref>[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/ken-cuccinelli-statue-of-liberty-poem-emma-lazarus-new-colossus-history.html The Complicated History of Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus”]</ref>
[[Image:colossus.jpg|right|100px|thumb|The Statue of Tyranny; the Old Colossus]]
While the poem is inspired by the plight of people who faced oppression, it is a statement of [[American Exceptionalism]] and not an excuse for the arrival of unbridled illegal aliens.
==Interpretation==