Composition

Outer composition and rhyme scheme

The poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus has a simple outer composition. The poem takes the form of an Italian sonnet, which is typically fourteen lines long. 

The first eight lines follow the rhyme scheme ABBAABBA, where “fame” rhymes with “flame”, “name”, and “frame”; and “land” rhymes with “stand”, “hand”, and “command”:

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-bridge harbour that twin cities frame. (ll. 1-8)

The final six lines of the poem follow the rhyme scheme CDCDCD, where “she” rhymes with “free”, and “me”; and “poor” rhymes with ...