Emma Lazarus's sonnet, "The New Colossus," begins with a comparison between the Old and New Worlds, through the synecdoche of contrasting the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus begins with an image of the Colossus, an arrogant symbol of victory, and opposes to this symbol of power and pride the Statue of Liberty, a woman with a torch whom she names "Mother of Exiles." This statue and this torch are symbols of "world-wide welcome" to anyone who wants a new life in America.

The message is stated explicitly in the sestet of the sonnet, which consists of lines attributed to the Mother of Exiles. The Old World can keep its pride and grandeur. America will accept all the homeless, the wretched of the earth, and anyone who longs for freedom and will give them a new home.