The New Colossus

“The New Colossus” is rendered as a sonnet: a traditional form consisting of 14 lines in meter and possessing a rhyme scheme. Of the traditional variations of sonnets, this poem, for the most part, follows the pattern of the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet. In this pattern, the first eight lines are called the octave and have an ABBAABBA rhyme scheme. At this point, the Petrarchan sonnet offers a volta, or turn, changing the rhyme scheme for the remaining six lines (called the sestet). Often, this volta also marks a change in thought or tone. In the case of “The New Colossus,” the change comes with the statue itself speaking. The rhyme scheme of the sestet offers the poem’s one deviation from the traditional Petrarchan sonnet by following a CDCDCD pattern instead of the typical CDECDE pattern.

The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, which is five metrical feet with an iamb (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable) comprising each foot. The final two lines scan as follows (stressed syllables appear in boldface):

“Send these, | the home | less temp | est-tost | to me,

I lift | my lamp | beside | the gold | en door!”