What does this mean to you?

Question

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-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

it is inscribed on the statue of liberty

Answer 1

it means america accepts poor people that want to make a better life for themselves



but we dont....


two thumbs down
what is wrong with your brains, that is what it says

Answer 2

This poem does not express the original intent of the Statue of Liberty. She was meant to be a symbolic example of liberty to all nations. This poem was grafted onto her by American activists.

It is an anachronism. A pretty thought of a by-gone age. And it certainly did not mean that every illegal with two legs or a temporary visa is invited to jump the line of honest immigrants and settle down here at will.

Play the tiny violin for illegals, but they still have no right to be here. And they need to be rounded up and sent home post haste.

Answer 3

It describes how the United States is so different from great nations throughout history: That, for the first time, there exists a nation of people served by their government, instead of Kings served by subjects.

As such, we, the people, can welcome new-comers for whom freedom is as valuable as life itself ("yearning to breathe free"). The people who came (some 20 million over a span of 50 years) weren't royalty or pompous dukes and princesses. They were real.

Most were so determined to have this life that they remained as willing to give their lives in defense of freedoms-found as they'd been to risk life and limb just to get here.

I live among hundreds of illegals and watch every Christmas as they head happily south, cars and trucks packed to twice their height. I see how nonchalantly they return refreshed and even fattened a bit.

They're usually all back in time for the kids to start school but, if aunt Reynalda catches cold, they head back south for a few weeks and, lo and behold, show up again.

Gee, that desert-crossing business must be a bear!

There is NO comparison to those who came through Ellis Island. Those people DID sacrifice. They DID assimilate and they knew that freedom was NEVER free.

There was no such thing as modern health care, no dentistry as we know it, schooling ended at 8th grade in the more fortunate towns.

Rural areas built their own schoolhouses and hired teachers whom the locals paid, mostly with food.

I believe the poem, though it really IS an anachronism, should still be something we strive to uphold as a national virtue.

With global population at over 23 times the 288M nature maintained for thousands of years until the industrial revolution, though, to ignore calculations of growth and weigh them against known resource limitations - first of all, WATER - is genocidal against our own nation.

We need a powerful poem about nature, scarcity and the realities of depletion of resources after the end of cheap oil.


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Answer 4

The Statue of Liberty and this poem are at the gateway to tlhe United States. This is where thousands of immigrants came in legally. They did not sneak across the borders.

Answer 5

Everyone is welcome, just make sure you play by the rules else we descend into anarchy for the rules and laws were meant to protect the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Answer 6

The statute of liberty. .....you mean the one that legal immigrants pass(ed) in the harbour of NYC on their way to Ellis Island?

The pursuit of freedom is welcome to all...who do it legally and by our laws.

Your emotionalism does not trump the laws of the US of A. Not for illegal aliens--and not for anyone else either.

DEPORT, Deport, deport.

Answer 7

Another anachronism.

Answer 8

it means those who are outcast in their countries,those who are in need.the poor.the immigrants.but she doesnt say send them with a green card now does she.false advertising.....j/k...lol

Answer 9

oooh! so fancy!