Emma Lazarus

Ranen Omer-Sherman (University of Louisville)
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There were years when it seemed that the Jewish poet Emma Lazarus, one of the most important early figures in the Jewish American literary canon, might emerge as a full-fledged participant into the elite realm of America’s Protestant literary culture. By the late 1870s and 1880s, Browning, Whitman, Henry James, Emerson (the latter two among her many ardent correspondents) and many others had all praised her translations of Heine as well as her own verse that appeared in Lippincott’s and the Century. But she was fated to be memorialized exclusively for “The New Colossus,” her great paean to (or plea for) American largesse, and by Jewish Americans for the few years of poetry, essays and political activity dedicated to their cause. Representative of this trend, Henrietta Szold…

1974 words

Citation: Omer-Sherman, Ranen. "Emma Lazarus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 August 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2651, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2651 Emma Lazarus 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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