This poem, out of all of them was
really able to hit me, it used figurative language very well to help let you
see what the poet was seeing. It had the most beautiful imagery, I knew it was
talking about the statue of liberty without even reading the footnotes. The way it said "A mighty woman with a
torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightening.", rather than just saying
this is The Statue Of Liberty. It also used the "ee" sound a lot! For
example in line 10-11 "With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your
poor, your huddled masses of yearning to breathe free.." I just loved this
line, when I said tired, poor, yearning, free out loud, I couldn't help but say
it with power and defiance like the patriots would have done. It also used the "oh"
sound a lot. The place I noticed it most was in line 14 when it said "golden
door"
I also
really enjoyed the rhyme scheme, it followed the Petrarchan format perfectly
with a abbaabbacdcdcd scheme. I
really liked that break, if it would have been line after line of rhyming, it
would have become forced and those kind of poems are never fun. This poem uses
a lot of consonance to help the poem flow. My favorite of all the lines containing
consonance was line 3 where it says "sea washed, sunset gates shall
stand" That whole phrase just rolls off the tongue.
Now to
the message of this poem, from this poem I got a sense of freedom and
acceptance. I've read a lot of stories where a new immigrant coming to the
United States sees the statue of liberty and instantly know that all their hard
work to get here was worth it. The United States of America is so accepting of
everyone, which is what I like about this poem. It gives the picture of the
Statue of Liberty telling everyone that no matter what your class, looks, or religion
may be, you are always accepted here.
Every time you say (or write) anything, Charlene, it comes out so thoughtful and intelligent that I am ashamed of myself.
ReplyDeleteKudos on writing about "The New Colossus." We read it so often as we are passed up the educational chain, we forget to analyze it as a work of poetry with integrity in itself. I'll be honest, I didn't even know that it was a sonnet until yesterday.
That admitted, I appreciated your analysis of it because of your evident love for this poem, and your insight on the literary devices used to craft it. I too loved the use of assonance and consonance (especially "sea washed, sunset gates shall stand"), and that it follows the Petrarchan form to a tee is interesting and commendable. Well done, Charlie, well done. You are one perceptive gal. :)
I liked this poem a lot too, it was very powerful. It had a very powerful message, which I thought was that there would be no judgment coming into a New World, in this case America like acceptance as you said Charlene. I liked how the poet chose to interpret the Statue of Liberty by describing it, instead of just saying, “The Statue of Liberty” as you said. I also liked the use of imagery, it was very bold and elegant, it was also so easy to picture when reading this sonnet. I really agreed with your response to this poem.
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