Critic And Poet

Emma Lazarus was the poet who gave America its most beloved immigrant anthem. "The New Colossus" transformed the Statue of Liberty into a universal symbol of welcome, and this collection reveals the full range of her voice. Here are poems that blend classical learning with urgent contemporary feeling, translations that bring Hebrew and German verse into English with startling grace, and prose that argues fiercely for justice. Lazarus wrote with one eye on the ancient world and another on the suffering of her contemporaries. Her activism for Jewish refugees and economic reform infuses every line with moral weight. This is poetry that refuses to be merely beautiful, that insists its words do work in the world. For readers who want verse that thinks as hard as it feels.