Epochs

Emma Lazarus

ca. 1875

Peace

The calm outgoing of a long, rich day,
Checkered with storm and sunshine, gloom and light,
Now passing in pure, cloudless skies away,
Withdrawing into silence of blank night.
Thick shadows settle on the landscape bright,
Like the weird cloud of death that falls apace
On the still features of the passive face.
Soothing and gentle as a mother’s kiss,
The touch that stopped the beating of the heart.
A look so blissfully serene as this,
Not all the joy of living could impart.
With dauntless faith and courage therewithal,
The Master found her ready at his call.
On such a golden evening forth there floats,
Between the grave earth and the glowing sky
In the clear air, unvexed with hazy motes,
The mystic-winged and flickering butterfly,
A human soul, that drifts at liberty,
Ah! who can tell to what strange paradise,
To what undreamed-of fields and lofty skies!

Loneliness

All stupor of surprise hath passed away;
She sees, with clearer vision than before,
A world far off of light and laughter gay,
Herself alone and lonely evermore.
Folk come and go, and reach her in no wise,
Mere flitting phantoms to her heavy eyes.
All outward things, that once seemed part of her,
Fall from her, like the leaves in autumn shed.
She feels as one embalmed in spice and myrrh,
With the heart eaten out, a long time dead;
Unchanged without, the features and the form;
Within, devoured by the thin red worm.
By her own prowess she must stand or fall,
This grief is to be conquered day by day.
Who could befriend her? Who could make this small,
Or her strength great? She meets it as she may.
A weary struggle and a constant pain,
She dreams not they may ever cease nor wane.
Engraved half-length portrait of woman facing left.
Tooltip info icon
The socially conscious writer Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) grew up in an established Sephardic family in New York. Lazarus’s eloquent essays, emotive poetry, and insightful translations—particularly of the works of Heinrich Heine—garnered her early respect and acclaim. She was a fervent activist against antisemitism and a champion for Jewish immigrants, volunteering and supporting social services. Her efforts reflected her proto-Zionist views which advocated Jewish cultural rebirth and settlement in Palestine. The words she is perhaps most remembered by, which encapsulate her position on the importance of immigrant rights and freedom from persecution, were added to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903, sixteen years after her death at the age of thirty-eight.
View Image Record

Credits

Emma Lazarus, “Epochs,” in The Poems of Emma Lazarus, vol. 1, 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1889), 40–53, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t7sn0rx2k&view=1up&seq=7.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Emma Lazarus

1849–1887

The socially conscious writer Emma Lazarus grew up in an established Sephardic family in New York. Lazarus’s eloquent essays, emotive poetry, and insightful translations—particularly of the works of Heinrich Heine—garnered her early respect and acclaim. She was a fervent activist against antisemitism and a champion for Jewish immigrants, volunteering and supporting social services. Her efforts reflected her proto-Zionist views advocating Jewish cultural rebirth and settlement in Palestine. The words she is perhaps most remembered by, which encapsulate her views on the importance of immigrant rights and freedom from persecution, were added to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903, sixteen years after her death at the age of thirty-eight.

Related Guide

Poetry, 1750–1880

Jewish poets throughout Europe and the Americas created in the languages of their native tongues. From folk-song lyrics to wedding riddles and synagogue hymns, poetry, even in translation, allows us access to voices and moments, particular and collective, that we would otherwise not hear. 

You may also like

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned…
View Source