1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Hey listeners, we have got some live shows coming up. Sunday, 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: July at two pm, we will be doing a live 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: podcast at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts. The 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: show will be outdoors on the bil Estate Lawn at 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: one one Adam Street in Quincy. Then on Saturday, July 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: twenty one, we'll be doing a live podcast at Convention 7 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: Days at Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: New York. That show will be at four pm and 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: Wesleyan Chapel. And we also have East Coast and West 10 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: Coast tours coming up in August and October, with stops 11 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Sumrville, Massachusetts, Brooklyn, New York, Washington, 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: d C, Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles and 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: San Francisco, California. You can find more information about all 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: of these shows and links to my tickets at missed 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: in History dot com slash Tour. Welcome to stuph you 16 00:00:55,480 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: missed in History class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello, 17 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson uh and today we're going to talk 19 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: about Emma Lazarus, who became one of the United States 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: first successful Jewish American writers, moving in the New York 21 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: literary scene in the late eighteen hundreds, and she also 22 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: wrote one of the most famous poems of all time. 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: Even if you don't know her name or the title 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: of that poem, odds are that at least you know 25 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: some lines of that work. Heads up for our listeners 26 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: who are maybe sharing this episode with younger history buffs. 27 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: We are going to have a discussion at the end 28 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: about one of her poems that is definitely erotic and 29 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: calls into questions some theories about her sexuality. The poem 30 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: in particular is adult content. I would say, yeah, I 31 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: read it this morning and then I needed to take 32 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: a walk. So we're gonna jump right in to the 33 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: life of Emma Lazarus. She was born on July twenty two, 34 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: eighteen forty nine, and her parents, Moses and Esther Lazarus, 35 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: had seven children. She was born right in the middle. 36 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: She was their fourth. They lived in New York City 37 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: and Emma's family, which had Portuguese Jewish roots, was pretty wealthy. 38 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: The family business was a sugar refinery and they had 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: done extremely well for themselves. The family had been in 40 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: New York since before the Revolutionary War, so that money 41 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: that had been passed down through the family was rooted 42 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: originally in a sugar trade that was directly tied to slavery. 43 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: And the success that Moses acquired through the family business 44 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: put him in high society circles that consisted primarily of 45 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: white Christians, and he made something of a conscious effort 46 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,959 Speaker 1: to play down the family's Sephardic Jewish background as part 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: of their assimilation into that social circle. He was moving 48 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: towards more of a secular Judaism himself. But this whole 49 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: situation really always gave Emma a sense of otherness. Even 50 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: though she had friends, she just always felt apart from 51 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: kind of everyone. Her early life was split between homes 52 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. She studied 53 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: with private tutors and received a really wide ranging education. 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: She learned to speak French, Italian, and German, and these 55 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: multi lingual skills really served her well in her career. 56 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: Her translations were as popular as the poetry and prose 57 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,959 Speaker 1: that she was writing, and she was translating uh poetry 58 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: from foreign languages from a very early age in In 59 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six, her poetry was published for the first 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: time in a volume titled Poems and Translations written between 61 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: the ages of fourteen and seventeen, and this book was 62 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: financed not by a publishing house but by her father, Moses, 63 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: who was incredibly supportive of her work as a writer. 64 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: But in eighteen sixty seven a publishing house printed a 65 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: second edition of the book, which gave it a much 66 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: wider distribution. Soon, Emma Lazarus was a name that was 67 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: circulating in literary circles, and her poe aetry was getting 68 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: the attention of people like Ralph Waldo Emerson. He became 69 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: her mentor after the two of them were introduced by 70 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: mutual friends. When Emma published a book of poetry called 71 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: ad Medicine Other Poems in eighteen seventy one, the title 72 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: poem was dedicated to Emerson. That relationship between Emerson, who 73 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: was sixty five when he met eighteen year old Lazarus, 74 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: wasn't always a smooth one. Initially, Emerson had seemed even 75 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: a little flirtatious in his letters with the young poet, 76 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: and while he praised her work generally, he gave very 77 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: few specific notes and then he also cooled in his 78 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,160 Speaker 1: affinity for her and kind of withdrew. This is something 79 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: that if you look at Emerson's life, this was a 80 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: pattern of him with younger poets that he chose to 81 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: mentor he would kind of lavish praise on them and 82 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: then kind of back off of it. And then when 83 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,479 Speaker 1: she asked him to recommend a poem of hers to 84 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: his editor I believe it was at the Atlantic for publication, 85 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: he instead leveled some pretty harsh criticism at the work 86 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: and told her that she had a tendency to indulge 87 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: in quote feeble words. The two of them had a 88 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: deeper falling out when Emerson edited the anthology Parnassis This 89 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: is a collection of his favorite poems, and he left 90 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: Emma's work out of it entirely. She wrote him a 91 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: really angry letter about this slight and he never wrote 92 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: her back about it. Eventually the two of them did 93 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: see each other again. Was a couple of years later, 94 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: after Emerson had retired. Lazarus visited him and conquered Massachusetts 95 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six at his invitation. Yes, so they 96 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: seem to have smoothed it over at least a little 97 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: but we don't really know that they ever got to 98 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: the point of friendship they had once shared. Lazarus published 99 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: more than fifty original poems in her lifetime, as well 100 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: as volumes of translations. In eighteen seventy one, she published 101 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: her second book of poetry that Tracy mentioned earlier, which 102 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: was Admetus and Other Poems, and in it our translations 103 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: of poems by Gerta and Heinrich Heine as well as 104 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: original works by Lazarus. And her poem how Long, conveys 105 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: the sense that Lazarus longs for literary tradition that makes 106 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: sense of her own life as an American writer, and 107 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: not one that's defined by the European tradition. The final 108 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: stanza of that work reads, the echo faints and fails. 109 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: It suiteth not upon this Western plane our voice or spirit. 110 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: We should stir again the wilderness and make the plane 111 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: resound unto a yet unheard of strain. Another poem in 112 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: Admetus is in the Jewish Synagogue at Newport, which is 113 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: a take on Longfellows the Jewish Cemetery at Newport. This 114 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: poem touches on the many moments that take place and 115 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: a synagogue so there's worship and weddings and funerals, and 116 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: it's her first poetic effort at really trying to capture 117 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: Jewish life. In eighteen seventy four, she published a novel, 118 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: a Lead, an Episode in Guerta's Life. This is the 119 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,359 Speaker 1: only novel that she ever wrote, and it is based 120 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: on Guerta's own autobiographical accounts of his life experiences. It 121 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: tells the story of a young Gerta falling in love 122 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: with a man in the country and ultimately leaving her 123 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 1: for his work. In eighteen seventy six, she wrote a 124 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: play in verse called The Spagnoletto. In this work, which 125 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: is a five act tragedy, was published privately. She published 126 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: a number of poems in the second half of the 127 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: eighteen seventies in the early eighteen eighties, mostly in the 128 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: periodicals Lippincott's Century and The New York Times. In eighteen 129 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: eighty one, she published a full book of translations of 130 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: Heinrich Kenna's works, titled Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heina. 131 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: That same year, she published an essay titled American Literature 132 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,679 Speaker 1: in defense of the work of writers in the United 133 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: States as just as valid as the writing of their 134 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: European predecessors and counterparts. Having studied literature, I think that 135 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: was an argument people were still making and are still 136 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: making a hundred years later. Certainly. Yeah, it was something 137 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: that it was another part of that sense of otherness 138 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: that she kind of always felt that. She was like, 139 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: I feel like we're doing great work over here, but 140 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: everyone is like, oh no, really, the seat of culture 141 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: and literature is clearly still Europe, which I imagine is 142 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: really frustrating for writers that are are doing really good work. 143 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: Um Emma Lazarus was increasingly devoted to activism against anti 144 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: Semitism in her twenties and thirties. She became a vocal 145 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: advocate for New York's Jewish refugee population, and she spoke 146 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: out against the anti Semitism that was rampant in Eastern Europe, 147 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: writing both essays and poetry on the subject. In Tight two, 148 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: she published a collection titled Songs of a Semite that 149 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: Danced to Death and Other Poems. And publishing this work, 150 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:43,239 Speaker 1: Lazarus became a really controversial figure. There was the obvious 151 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: issue of anti Semitism to deal with, but in proclaiming 152 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: her Jewishness so clearly it ran really counter to the 153 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: ideology of people like her father, who wanted to retain 154 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,439 Speaker 1: their cultural identity in a more private way to try 155 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: to avoid causing conflict. In addition two Songs of a 156 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: Semi Lazarus became a regular contributor to the Journal's American 157 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: Hebrew UH and The Century, in which she published several 158 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: essays from April eighteen eighty two to February eighteen eighty three. 159 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: The essays was the Earl of Beaconsfield, a Representative Jew, 160 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: Russian Christianity Versus Modern Judaism, and the Jewish Problem. All 161 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: examined the issue of Jews in society, who she wrote, 162 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: were faded to forever be antagonized by those around them. 163 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: And it was in reaction to the prejudice against Jews 164 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,079 Speaker 1: that she witnessed that she started to promote the pre 165 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: Zionist idea that a Jewish state needed to be established 166 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: in Palestine. This was before Zionism was really coined and 167 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: pushed by other people. In a moment, we'll talk about 168 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: some of the other advocacy that Emma Lazarus engaged in, 169 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: but we're going to pause first for a brief sponsor break. 170 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: Emma's activism was not and find just to her writing, though, 171 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: as a way to help Jewish refugees build a better 172 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: life in the US, she helped found the Hebrew Technical 173 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: Institute of New York, and there immigrants could receive vocational 174 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: training to help ensure some sort of financial stability in 175 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: their new lives. In eighteen eighty two, she worked hands 176 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: on at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, teaching English and 177 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: assisting with lessons that would help immigrants merge with American society. 178 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: That year and estimated two thousand Russian Jewish immigrants were 179 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: arriving in New York. Every month, she visited the homes 180 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: of immigrants on Wards Island, and she was somewhat horrified 181 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: at the conditions there. The island had been made into 182 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: an overflow camp for refugees, as other facilities in Brooklyn 183 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: could just no longer take any more people they were 184 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: completely full. On March eighty two, a piece that appears 185 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: to have been written by Lazarus appeared in the New 186 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,679 Speaker 1: York Times, although it ran uncredited, and the article casts 187 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 1: a sympathetic eye on the people at Ward's Island and 188 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: how many of them were people of high esteem in 189 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: their homeland, who in seeking refuge, we're going to start 190 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,839 Speaker 1: their new lives completely penniless. And it goes on to 191 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: challenge and disassemble a lot of the stereotypes that Russian 192 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: Jewish immigrants endured in New York, and it's stressed that 193 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: they wished only to breathe the air of freedom. Lazarus 194 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 1: spent some time in the mid eighteen eighties traveling abroad 195 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: after she published Songs of a Semite. She visited both 196 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: England and France, and it was during her first trip 197 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: there in eighteen eighty three that she met and befriended 198 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: Robert Browning, William Morris, and Henry James, among others. Yeah, 199 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: because she was uh already really well known in literary 200 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: circles in the US, and she was from a wealthy family, 201 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,319 Speaker 1: one she could afford to travel, and too, she had 202 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: pretty easy introductions to a lot of society people throughout Europe, 203 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: so she made a lot of very high profile friends. 204 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: And that same year she also wrote a letter to 205 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 1: her friend and publisher Philip Cowant, referencing an article that 206 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: she had recently read the had a decidedly anti Semitic tone. 207 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: She wrote quote to refer to the Sun article. It 208 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: seems to me so coarse and vulgar that it deserves 209 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 1: no reply from any self respecting Jew. It represents the 210 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,719 Speaker 1: habitual light in which we are regarded as a race 211 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: by the Christians, but it happens to be couched in 212 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: somewhat more offensive terms than usual. I am perfectly conscious 213 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: that this contempt and hatred underlies the general tone of 214 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: the community towards us. And yet when I even remotely 215 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: hint at the fact that we are not a favorite people, 216 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: I am accused of stirring up strife and setting barriers 217 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: between the two sects. The particular article ought, in my opinion, 218 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: to be treated with absolute contempt. It is too vile 219 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: to touch. In late three she penned the poem that 220 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: would become her most famous, The New Colossus. The New 221 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: Colossus is a sonnet, and you might not know it 222 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,079 Speaker 1: by name, but you almost certainly know at least a 223 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: couple of lines from it. We're going to get to 224 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: the poem itself, and just the moment the New Colossus. 225 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: This was actually written for charity. Lazarus wrote it so 226 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: it could be auctioned off to raise money for the 227 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: Pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. While France was giving 228 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 1: the US the statue as a gift, it was up 229 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: to the States to pay for a base that would 230 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: support the massive monument, and this was something of an 231 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: issue of contention. Coming up with the money to pay 232 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: for a pedestal was a challenge, and there was a 233 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: very real sentiment against the entire affair based on the 234 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 1: idea that the whole thing was making the US look bad. 235 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it's not completely unheard of for there 236 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 1: to be a gift like this that costs the recipient money, 237 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: especially when it's a giant statue. Despite the negative opinion 238 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,960 Speaker 1: of a gift that also required significant expense on the 239 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: part of the recipient just to receive the gift, the 240 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,000 Speaker 1: New York literary community rallied to try to raise funds 241 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: for the base. The Art Loan Fund, Exhibition and Aid 242 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: of the Bartholdy Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty 243 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: was mounted and this was an auction of art and 244 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: literature created especially for the occasion, and it was managed 245 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,559 Speaker 1: by the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty. Emma 246 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,199 Speaker 1: Lazarus had been asked to participate by William Maxwell Everts, 247 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: who was chairman of the American Committee for the Statue 248 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: of Liberty, and the writer Constance Carrie Harrison, and Lazarus 249 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: was reluctant initially. She was not accustomed to doing commissions, 250 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: and she didn't write if she didn't feel moved to 251 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: do so, so this idea of writing on command was 252 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: not really in her wheelhouse normally. As she approached this poem, 253 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: Lazarus imagined how the statue might regard the old world, 254 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: and her work and advocating for the immigrant community really 255 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: informed the voice that she gave the statue. W she 256 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: considered the Mother of Exiles. She wrote the New Colossus 257 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: on November two three, and it's pretty short, so we're 258 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: going to read it in its entirety. Not like the 259 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from 260 00:14:55,400 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: land to land. Here at our seawashed sunset, gates shall stay, 261 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: and a mighty woman with a torch whose flame is 262 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From 263 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: her beacon hand glows worldwide. Welcome her mild eyes command 264 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: the air bridged harbor that twins cities frame, Keep ancient lands, 265 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: your storied pomp, cries she with silent lips. Give me 266 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: You're tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe, free, 267 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the 268 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside 269 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 1: the golden door. So that brazen giant that she mentions 270 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: in the first line is a reference to the Ancient 271 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: Colossus of Rhodes, which was a statue built somewhere between 272 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: two ninety two and two a d. B. C. E. 273 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: To commemorate a military conquest, and Lazarus characterizes the new 274 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: monument in contrast as a welcoming presence rather than a 275 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: conquering one. The poem was read at the auction on 276 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: in December three, but not at the dedication of the 277 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty in eighteen eighty six. Later, the New 278 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: Colossus was published in the New York Times and in 279 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, but it quickly faded from 280 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: public consciousness. And we are actually about to talk about 281 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: the end of Emma Lazarus's short life, but we're going 282 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: to take a quick break before we do. To hear 283 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: from one of the fantastic sponsors that keep our show going. 284 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: In March eight five, Emma's father, Moses Lazarus, died, and 285 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: in April she set sail for Europe once again. This 286 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: trip was a very long one. She kept traveling right 287 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: into eighteen eighty seven. She started with visits to Yorkshire 288 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: and London before moving on to the Netherlands, France and Italy, 289 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: but by the end of the year she was not 290 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: feeling well. She continued her travels in eighteen eighty six 291 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: despite feeling ill. First she went back to England and 292 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: then Holland and Paris, and she'd been planning another visit 293 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: to Italy but ended up staying in Paris into seven 294 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: because she just couldn't travel anymore. She stayed in Paris 295 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: for six months before returning to New York in July, 296 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: and that time she had developed a facial paralysis. She 297 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: had lost her hearing in one year. Her eyesight had 298 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: declined to the point that she could barely see. Her 299 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: younger sister Annie had been with her in Europe and 300 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,919 Speaker 1: took care of her as she convalesced and took dictations 301 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: so that Emma could keep up her correspondence. Lazarus never 302 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: got to witness her poems rise to fame. She died 303 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,639 Speaker 1: on November nineteenth of eighteen eighty seven, and while her 304 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: illness was never properly diagnosed, it is likely, based on 305 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: the evidence UH and based on what people have gathered, 306 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,160 Speaker 1: that she probably died from Hodgkin lymphoma. She was only 307 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,919 Speaker 1: thirty eight. The funeral was held at her home in 308 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 1: New York, and then she was buried in Cypress Hills 309 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,240 Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. The December issue of American Hebrew was a 310 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: memorial to Emma Lazarus. It was more than twenty pages long, 311 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: are than normal to accommodate all the poems and other 312 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,680 Speaker 1: various tributes that writers had sent for inclusion. The New 313 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: Colossus went largely unmentioned in obituaries and writings about her 314 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: after her death, aside from a tribute written by Constance 315 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: Carrie Harrison Yea that was the writer who had asked 316 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: her specifically to please write that poem. In the year 317 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: after Emma died, her cousins set up the Emma Lazarus 318 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: Club for Working Girls, and there young women immigrants could 319 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: learn marketable skills such as sewing or clerical practices, but 320 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: they could also study literature if they wanted to. This 321 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: charitable effort troubled her immediate family, though they had never 322 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: been entirely comfortable with Emma's activism, after her death, they 323 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: had shifted the narrative of her life a little bit, 324 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: playing down her controversial Zionist views. As you recalled from 325 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: the beginning of the episode, her father had consciously worked 326 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: to blend in with New York society and really played 327 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: down the family's Jewish heritage. The family refused to allow 328 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: any of Emma's pro Jewish poetry to be reprinted after 329 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: her death. When her sisters Josephine and Annie published the 330 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,440 Speaker 1: two volumes set the Poems of Emma Lazarus In, Josephine 331 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: wrote a biographical sketch of Emma. Yeah, that sketch got 332 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: reprinted in a lot of places, and that's really kind 333 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: of where her life story got a little bit um 334 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: shifted around, where it wasn't quite an accurate portrayal of 335 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: her anymore, but more like a very niceified version that 336 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: left out any of her controversial views. In nineteen o one, 337 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: though the New Colossus was rediscovered by Georgina Skyler, who 338 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,439 Speaker 1: was a friend of Emma's and Skylar had found the 339 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: poem in a book that she happened upon in a bookshop, 340 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: and she was inspired to resurrect her friend's work, and 341 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: through Skylar's efforts, in nineteen oh three, the new colossus 342 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: was inscribed on a plaque, and that plaque was hung 343 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:55,160 Speaker 1: inside the museum in the statue of Liberty's Pedestal, where 344 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: it remains to this day. The Emma Lazarus Federation of 345 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: Jewish Women's Clubs was formed in nineteen forty four by 346 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: the Women's Division of the Jewish People's Fraternal Order of 347 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: the International Workers Order for the i w O. It 348 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 1: was founded as a wartime relief group, combating racism and 349 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: fostering positivity in Jewish identity. From its founding until its 350 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: dissolution in ninety nine, the group had at times been 351 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 1: labeled as subversive and radical, and it did have ties 352 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 1: to communism. It also went through various re orgs, but 353 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: it was always focused on women's issues. The group didn't 354 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: only advocate for Jewish women's causes, though that was its 355 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,199 Speaker 1: primary focus. The Emma Lazarus Federation joined forces with the 356 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: Black Women's Group SO Journals for truth and justice during 357 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: the fifties and sixties, and it also pressured the U. 358 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: S Government to ratify the nineteen forty eight Genocide Convention. 359 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: At its highest level of activity, the Mma Lazarus Federation 360 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: had one hundred clubs within it, with membership totaling between 361 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: four thousand and five thousand women. In Subways. Lazarus has 362 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: become more enigmatic since her death. Questions related to her 363 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: spinster lifestyle arose in the second half of the twentieth century, 364 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: when a signet that she wrote titled Assurance was published 365 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: for the first time. The signet begins, last night I slept, 366 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: and when I woke her kiss still floated on my lips. 367 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: The poem describes a dream of a romantic forest interlude. 368 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: I would go so far as to say an erotic 369 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,919 Speaker 1: forest interlude that concludes with the woman referenced in the 370 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: first line whispering quote and didst thou dream this could 371 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: be buried, this could be asleep and love bethrall to death. Nay, 372 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: what's soo? Seem Have faith, dear heart, this is the 373 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: thing that is. The sonnet has naturally fueled speculation about 374 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: Emma Lazarus's sexual identity. She had included it in an 375 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: anthology of her own work that she was preparing just 376 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: before she died. She understood that she was not going 377 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: to survive, and she was really focused on her poetry surviving. 378 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 1: But this poem was undated, which was unusual for her work. 379 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: She had to have known it would be a little 380 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: bit controversial, but this poem, like her activism, was omitted 381 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: from the work by her sister's author Esther Shore, in 382 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: her two thousand six biography of Emma Lazarus, discussed this 383 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: poem and made a case that it can be interpreted 384 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,719 Speaker 1: as much about and simply embracing one's own sexuality as 385 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,959 Speaker 1: anything else. She said quote she wrote the poem as 386 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,199 Speaker 1: a dream vision and left it undated, not to elude us, 387 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: but to redirect us. What the poem exposes is her 388 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,160 Speaker 1: unconscious and it tells us that she met it, if 389 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: not a female lover face to face, and the sonnet 390 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 1: the lover's enigmatic assurance is that this is the thing 391 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,640 Speaker 1: that is means in another idiom, this is the real thing, 392 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: but it's also a thing that is real beyond denial 393 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: or repression. Assurance is not a poem about choosing a lover. 394 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: It is about being chosen by desire. It is a 395 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: love poem, yes, but also a poem of vocation, about 396 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: being called by eros to a vital sexual life. That is, 397 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: of course one interpretation. That's the thing about poetry. Other 398 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: people can interpret different ways. I had a definite interpretation 399 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,160 Speaker 1: when I read it. That is not something we could 400 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: really repeat in the podcast. All right, then? Uh. There 401 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,879 Speaker 1: has been plenty of speculation also about a possible romance 402 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 1: at one point between Emma Lazarus and Charles Decay, who 403 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: was the brother of her best friend, Helena Decay, and 404 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: the two Emma and Charles were very close for years, 405 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: but it appears that whatever their connection was, it fell 406 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: apart when Emma learned something scandalous about Charles, although what 407 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,200 Speaker 1: that thing was is unknown. But what we do know 408 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: is that Charles, a poet in his own right, after 409 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: finding out that she had discovered something, wrote a rather 410 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: scathing kind of comedy poem to his brother in law, 411 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: mocking Emma over the whole thing. So whether there was 412 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: any true romantic affection between the two of them remains 413 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 1: a mystery. I read some accounts that suggested that Helena 414 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: always thought Emma had a thing for Charles, but that 415 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: Charles never really cared about her. But then other people 416 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: in their social circle mentioned that Charles was really quite 417 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,439 Speaker 1: fond of her. We don't know. It's all hearsay at 418 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: this point, but if there had been any real romantic 419 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: affection between them, that incident put an end to it. 420 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: She definitely flirted with men in her life, and she 421 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: also seemed fascinated by the idea of the so called 422 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,760 Speaker 1: Boston marriage of two women living together as a couple. 423 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: But we really don't know anything specific about her personal 424 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: inclinations or her relationships. It's all speculation. Yeah, even her 425 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: letters between her and Charles Decay are nowhere to be found. 426 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: There's like one and it's pretty boring. So we just 427 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: don't know. But what is a parent is that while 428 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: she had a very wide circle of friends and may 429 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: have had romantic feelings for various people or not, her work, 430 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 1: both as a writer and an activist, was always the 431 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: thing that took precedent and was more important to her 432 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: than anything else. There's a coda to this, which is 433 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: I didn't want to say it at the top because 434 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: it kind of gives away some of the story, but 435 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: Here's why I selected this topic for an episode. I 436 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: was on Twitter recently, you know where truth always lives. 437 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: But there was an argument going on about current events, 438 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: and someone referenced the new Colossus, and some other person 439 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: replied to them, why should we care what some French 440 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: guy wrote on a statue they sent us, And I thought, well, 441 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: we gotta let people know that a woman actually wrote 442 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: it was from the United States, just to help pare 443 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: down the misinformation that may be floating in the world. 444 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: That is why we selected m. Lazarus. She's also just 445 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,479 Speaker 1: an interesting figure. We have a lot of stories about 446 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: activists in various different ways. Hers was a unique style 447 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: in that she really did seem to want to use 448 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,919 Speaker 1: her privilege to get the word out, but at the 449 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: same time she still maintained a very becaushy life for herself. 450 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: So a lot of other poets that we have talked 451 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,159 Speaker 1: about have been poets who today have had more of 452 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: a lasting face aim in terms of how their work 453 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: is regarded, Whereas I think a lot of people like 454 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: she's She's not as much of a household name and 455 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: a lot of circles as say Walt Whitman. No, not 456 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: at all. Um, and you know that people are definitely 457 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: familiar with at least those few lines from the New Classes, 458 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: but not necessarily her other work, a lot of which 459 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: is really lovely. Yeah. I I will confess I was 460 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 1: reading some various criticism of it, and she does not 461 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: get treated terribly, uh delightfully by modern critics. I think 462 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: even in her own time, some of her word choices 463 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: were a little stilted and kind of like people either 464 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: found them dry or a little bit removed. It was 465 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,360 Speaker 1: like one critic that I wrote was talking about how 466 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: she wanted to talk about a lot of different parts 467 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: of the human experience, but because she really didn't have 468 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: that wide of a personal experience. You know, she traveled twice, 469 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: but even so she spent like six months of those 470 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: travels in a room basically and on her balcony because 471 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,400 Speaker 1: she was ill. So she kind of is talking about 472 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: all of this stuff almost from a remove, and she 473 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: was like, you can feel the distance between what she's 474 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: trying to talk about and what it actually is. And 475 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: also when she talks about other cultures that she never 476 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: really experienced, there's always that weird kind of distance. But 477 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: it's worth checking out. Yeah, people made a similar criticism 478 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: about Phillis Sweetly, feeling like she was too removed from 479 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,400 Speaker 1: the work that she was talking about. Yeah, so it's 480 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: fascinating stuff. I Uh, I always love a little bit 481 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: of history involving lady writers, especially people that don't maybe 482 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: get their due. Yeah, do you have listener mail for us? 483 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: You do. I got to pull it up because I 484 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,440 Speaker 1: should have had it already and I didn't. Uh, this 485 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,679 Speaker 1: is a funny one. It's short, but it is in 486 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,959 Speaker 1: reference to our windsor McKay episode. But specifically, if you recall, 487 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: we talked about a strip that he wrote called dreams 488 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: of a rare Bit fiend, rare bit being uh like 489 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: a rich she's that was melted onto toast as a snack, 490 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: and it was said to give you bad dreams. Uh, 491 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,640 Speaker 1: And she writes, I love the podcast, and I had 492 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: to send a little tidbit about rare bit dreams, the 493 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: actual event, not winds or mackay's strip. There was a 494 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: funny July review from Graham's Magazine of Emily Bronte's Wuthering 495 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,719 Speaker 1: Heights that opined quote, there is an old saying that 496 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: those who eat toasted cheese at night will dream of Lucifer, 497 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: the author of Wuthering Heights, has evidently eaten toasted cheese. 498 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: How a human being could have attempted such a book 499 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,119 Speaker 1: as the Present without committing suicide before he finished a 500 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: dozen chapters is a mystery, said, I have never heard 501 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: the concept of rare bit evoking weird dreams beyond this reference, 502 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: and I wanted to pass it along. That is kind 503 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: of a very mean review, but it is interesting that 504 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: it it went all the way back there and was 505 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: being used as a snarky way to talk about somebody's writing. 506 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: Since we were talking about a woman writer today, I 507 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: thought that was an interesting tie in. Uh. If you 508 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: would like to write to us and share any instances 509 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: of rare bit dreams that you have come across or 510 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: other you can do so at History Podcast at Houston 511 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: Works dot com. You can also find us at missed 512 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: in history dot com and all over social media as 513 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: missed in History. To come to the website, you'll find 514 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: our show notes episodes all the way back to the 515 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: beginning before Tracy and I were ever involved in the show, 516 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, occasional other fun things. So come 517 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: and visit us at missed in history dot com. You 518 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or 519 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: wherever you listen. For more on this and thousands of 520 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 1: other topics, visit how staff works dot com.