Emma Lazarus was born in New York City on 22 July 1849 and died there on 19 November 1887, only thirty-eight years later. Her name is now inseparable from “The New Colossus,” the sonnet whose plea for the world’s “tired,” “poor,” and “huddled masses” has become the verbal companion to the Statue of Liberty. Yet the familiarity of those lines has often obscured the larger achievement of the woman who wrote them. Lazar…
“I cannot resist the impulse of expressing to you my extreme disappointment at finding you have so far modified the enthusiastic estimate you held of my literary labors as to refuse me a place in the large and miscellaneous collection of poems you have just edited. I find myself treated with absolute contempt in the very quarter where I had been encouraged to build my fondest hopes.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Political Poets, Social Justice Poets, Victorian Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Spirituality, Wonder
In the vibrant landscape of early twentieth-century modernism, where voices like Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein commanded attention, another figure moved through the artistic circles of London, Paris, and New York with equal brilliance but less recognition. Mina Loy (1882-1966) was a poet, artist, actress, and feminist whose radical verse challenged conventional notions of femininity, sexuality, and poeti…
“To obtain results you must make sacrifices & the first & greatest sacrifice you have to make is of your virtue.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Decadent Poets, Modernist Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Longing, Spirituality
