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