Literary devices

Allusion

Emma Lazarus introduces several allusions in the poem “The New Colossus”. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker alludes to the Colossus of Rhodes, which is a statue depicting the Greek god Helios: “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,/ With conquering limbs astride from land to land” (ll. 1-2). Unlike the Colossus of Rhodes, which was a symbol of the island’s military success, the New Colossus – the Statue of Liberty – is not associated with war. 

Later on, the speaker says that the New Colossus commands “the air-bridged harbour that twin cities frame” (l. 8). This is an allusion to the fact that New York City and Brooklyn were separate cities at the time when the poem was written. 

In the last lines of the poem, the poet introduces an allusion: “ ‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ ” (l. 9). In this example, the poet introduces an allusion to old European empires, which the New Colossus rejects. The Statue of Liberty claims that...