In Competition No. 3101 you were invited to compose a contemporary take on ‘The New Colossus’, the 1883 sonnet by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
Written as part of an effort to raise money for the construction of the 89ft pedestal, the poem has spoken powerfully to successive generations. Today it is often invoked as a counterpoint to Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, in particular the famous lines:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
Most of you ran with this idea and produced accomplished if sometimes predictable entries. The best are printed below and earn their authors £20 each. Commendations go to Ann Drysdale, Frank McDonald, R.M. Goddard and Ray Kelley, who all came at the challenge from a more oblique angle.
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