During the early years of their relationship, Lazar-us turned to Emerson as her mentor, and he in turn praised and encouraged her writing. The two corresponded until Emerson’s death in 1882. Soon after Poems and Translations was published, Lazarus met Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1866, when Emma was only seventeen, Moses had Poems and Translations: Written Between the Ages of Fourteen and Sixteen printed “for private circulation.” Daughter Emma dedicated the volume “To My Father.” Her father, who was a successful sugar merchant, supported her writing financially as well as emotionally. She grew up in New York and Newport, Rhode Island, and was educated by private tutors with whom she studied mythology, music, American poetry, European literature, German, French, and Italian. “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” proclaims the “Mother of Exiles” in Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus.” Her best-known contribution to mainstream American literature and culture, the poem has contributed to the belief that America means opportunity and freedom for Jews, as well as for other “huddled masses.” Through this celebration of the “other,” Lazarus conveyed her deepest loyalty to the best of both America and Judaism.īorn on July 22, 1849, Lazarus was the fourth of Esther (Nathan) and Moses Lazarus’s seven children.
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