I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Golden door can symbolize freedom and asylum,
247 Matching Annotations
- May 2021
-
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
-
-
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
Send the unfortunate, the people who have been hit by adversities to her.
-
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
the poor or unhappy refuse of the abundant shore.
-
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
Huddled masses referring to a large amount of people.
-
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
The statue is crying like a real human.
-
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
Keep the ancient lands free or too herself?
-
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
Referring to New York and the harbors near the Statue of Liberty.
-
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The statue is known world wide and popular.
-
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Mother of Exiles might be referring to the statue of liberty.
-
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Light inside the torch?
-
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Sounds like they are talking about the statue of liberty.
-
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
Indicates that the statue is near the sea.
-
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
The Colossus of Rhodes statue stretched over two lands
-
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
Talking about Colossus of Rhodes, once one of the Seven Wonders of the World
-
The New Colossus
A big statue
-
-
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
-
as they look at their hands so long away from their tools, as they look at themselves, so long gone from their families, so long gone from life itself, so many things have changed.
So many things have changed for immigrants, and you would think they would be good since these people have left everything to go to a different country and start a new life but that is not the case.
-
but so very few make it out of here as human as they came in,
The struggles they went through changed immigrants and made them feel less human, as they feel dehumanized and given unfair opportunities from the rest.
-
Some will make it out of here with hate in their eyes,
They will hate because of the things they had to go through just to make it where they are.
-
without a soul, a future, or a reason to live.
They will live there life without a purpose, not working towards anything.
-
Some will die and others will go on living
People that join gangs are signing up to live a dangerous life.
-
Some of the younger ones will become gangsters.
Many people resort to gangs to make a living and support there families.
-
But in the end, some will just sit around talking about how good the old world was.
Some wish to go back to the past, a place where they thought it was bad but wish to live instead of now.
-
thinking they’ll get a chance to change their lives.
Every immigrant moves to a new country in hopes to change there life but sadly many are turned down.
-
looking around, each with a dream in their heart,
Every immigrant that traveled to this country, moved to seek there dreams and move to a place where it is possible to achieve these dreams.
-
new haircuts and brogan boots,
When I read "new haircuts" it makes me think that they tried to look nice for job interviews or opportunities they come across.
-
mattresses rolled up and on their shoulders,
They brought everything they could carry with them.
-
I look down and see new immigrants coming in,
More immigrants must come and live in the tenements because they could not make a living this new country.
-
I ask Coyote next door to shoot me over a little more soap to finish my laundry.
Shows the close relationships they have with other immigrants.
-
or somebody downstairs hollers angrily about a toilet overflowing, or that the heaters don’t work.
Immigrants are not given proper opportunities when moving countries.
-
saying their sinks don’t work,
Shows that they do not have much money to live on.
-
men are hollering back and forth cell to cell,
Everyday life seems like prison.
-
Across the way Joey is sticking his hands through the bars to hand Felipé a cigarette,
It is like living in prison, the conditions and opportunities given are terrible.
-
from all the tenements laundry hung window to window.
All the people in the building were hanging there laundry.
-
Just like it used to be in my neighborhood:
Once again shows that life is no different in this new country.
-
my T-shirts, boxer shorts, socks and pants are drying.
Common clothings
-
My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines,
Cell as in jail cell?
-
Our lives don’t get better, we go down quick.
There lives in this new country are no better than there old one.
-
our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value.
The education system in this country is terrible and the things taught do not provide any valuable learning or skills.
-
The doctors don’t care, our bodies decay,
The doctors work for money and do not work to save peoples lives, reminds of the U.S
-
But it’s no different here. It’s all concentrated.
The immigrants see the same false promises and dictators in the new country. They cannot escape.
-
swinging clubs and shooting guns as they pleased.
Swinging clubs makes me think of times of cavemen and just a inhumane way of living and acting.
-
when they wanted, arrested us when they felt like,
These dictators felt they had the power to do whatever they liked whenever they liked.
-
who wore blue suits and broke our doors down
Blue shirts can represent power.
-
from dictators in our neighborhoods,
Dictators were living closely among other people.
-
We came here to get away from false promises,
They wanted to escape there old life where there hopes were built up on fake promises and they were let down, but the same thing is beginning to happen in this new country.
-
like in the old neighborhoods we came from.
It is starting to remind the immigrants of there old lives and why they left there country.
-
no mixing of cultures, let them stay apart,
The government wants different races to stay apart?
-
The administration says this is right,
The government is ago with segregation?
-
So we go about our business, blacks with blacks, poor whites with poor whites, chicanos and indians by themselves.
Shows the classification and racial segregation that can happen when struggling to make a living,
-
The administration says this is temporary
They are told these working conditions will get better but in reality they never will.
-
to work in fields for three cents an hour.
There conditions are almost as worse as slaves. They barely get paid and do backbreaking work.
-
But right away we are sent to work as dishwashers,
Shows that they still do not get many opportunities as an immigrant.
-
and learning an extra good trade.
A place where they could learn a trade like carpentry, welding, etc.
-
about being able to finish school,
They thought that this new country would give them the opportunity to finish school.
-
they talked about rehabilitation,
When the moved to this new country they thought of a place where they can become better people.
-
Our expectations are high: in the old world,
They had high expectations for the United States. They expected to have a easy and free life from where they left but instead they are left with people like the old men who sit and judge.
-
leaning on shovels and rakes or against walls.
Shows the work they are doing.
-
We pass them as they stand around idle,
They stop doing what they are doing when the immigrants pass by, its as if the immigrants bother the old men enough to stop what there doing to stop and judge.
-
from deep disturbed eyes, sulking, retreated.
The old men are judging the immigrants and likely don't accept them and feel like they belong in the country.
-
The old men who have lived here stare at us,
They are judged by the elderly men in the new country.
-
But most of us didn’t finish high school.
Most of the people who are coming to find a better life did not get past high school and it shows that in these countries they are leaving if you do not get a full education it is hard to make something of yourself and have a successful life.
-
use glasses and books to reach the world.
The author makes it seem like glasses enhance a persons knowledge and make them smarter.
-
They used common sense like scholars
By saying this is he stating that the common sense of people good with there heads is greater and have more knowledge.
-
Others were good with their heads.
Some people taking the test to get into the country were smarter and had an advantage.
-
good with our hands and proud of our work.
They are hard workers but not fully educated.
-
Some of us were craftsmen in the old world,
Shows that tests can be unfair because some people worked differently and did not have the same education as others.
-
we will now live in. We take tests.
They have to take a test of there knowledge of the country.
-
where counselors orient us to the new land
They are introduced to the new land.
-
Then we gather in another room
Many steps are taken to enter a new country.
-
We are given shots and doctors ask questions.
They are taken care of and made sure they are healthy.
-
and we are given overalls like mechanics wear.
When I read this I think of how prisoners are stripped of there clothes and given orange jumpsuits.
-
our old clothes are taken
They are basically taken from our old lives and start a new life.
-
At the gates we are given new papers,
They are given new papers to identify themselves and papers that make them legally able to enter a new country.
The gates can by a symbol of hope and freedom.
-
looking for better days ahead.
Searching for a time when things are good and everything goes the right way.
-
We are born with dreams in our hearts
Is he saying that when we are born we already have our dreams for the future or what we want to be or do or have.
-
Immigrants in Our Own Land
People from a different country have migrated to someone else's land.
-
-
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
-
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
The man threw the girls like he was helping them enter a car not throwing them to there death.
-
And then another. As if he were helping them up
The man was throwing girls out the window like it was nothing, like it was something he did everyday.
-
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
People were better off jumping hoping to live because there was no chance of escaping the fire through the building.
-
Up to the windowsill, then held her out
He was dropping people from the ninth floor because it was the best way to escape.
-
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
A man helped a girl escape the fire.
-
The witness in a building across the street
People were watching the fire but could do nothing.
-
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes—
The building was not up to proper safety standards, so along with the terrible conditions making shirts, there was no escape during a disaster.
-
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
146 people died in the fire that day.
-
At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.
It was a fire in Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911. It was one of the most deadly industrial disasters in U.S history.
-
The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
The infamous blaze indicates a fire in the sweatshop.
-
The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,
The wringer and the mangle are two devices used to dry clothes manually.
-
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
Describes how a shirt is made and lists machines that help make a shirt.
-
This armpiece with its overseam to the band
Back to making shirts.
-
Or talking money or politics while one fitted
The things they talk about daily while working.
-
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
What happens on there break every day.
-
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
Introduces a problem in the world where people are overworked for very little money.
-
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
He is describing a shirt and its perfections.
-
The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
Is he talking about the features of a shirt?
-
-
poets.org poets.org
-
driven by a godawful wind.
A strong wind is feeding the fire.
-
She burns like a burning bush
She burns wildly and out of control.
-
She rises like dragonsmoke to my nostrils.
He is inhaling her, also shows substance abuse.
-
at the edge of a rain forest.
There are rain forests in Vietnam
-
She burns like a field of poppies
Poppies are red and he is describing the burning like a giant field of red.
-
She burns like a shot glass of vodka.
Vodka is strong, and he is saying that she burns inside of him.
-
A tiger under a rainbow at nightfall.
Shows the Vietnam is a pretty place when there is peace and the rainbow represents peace, the tiger represents when there is war Vietnam is not as pretty.
-
silent as quicksilver.
The burning is silent and very quick?
-
of a banker's cigar,
Used to describe her burning
-
She glows like the fat tip
She is ash, could the ash be the remains of a flag?
-
dipped in gasoline.
Gasoline is used to burn, gasoline can symbolize destruction in this case because it is being used to burn.
-
She burns like a cattail torch
Cattails are found in wetlands, this line could describe the setting of the poem.
-
She burns like oil on water.
Oil spills are usually accidents so is the burning an accident?
-
like a sack of dry ice.
When dry ice melts it turns directly into gas and disappears, and the title talks about disappearing.
-
while she burns
Could "she" be the flag?
-
We stand with our handshanging at our sides,
Relates to the Vietnam war and how soldiers would stand with hands at there sides during a funeral. Or it be a burning flag?
-
at dusk.
The flames were burning at night
-
dances around her
The flames are surrounding her
-
A skirt of flames
The flames are surrounding something
-
in a thigh-shaped valley.
Using the human body to describe the valley.
-
She burns like foxfire
She brings sparks and emits light in his life.
-
she burns like a piece of paper.
Paper is delicate and can be lost in a fire easily.
-
inside my head. At daybreak
The feelings for this girl are always inside his head throughout the whole day.
-
belongs to a girl still burning
The feelings for a girl still effect him.
-
The cry I bring down from the hills
Is she crying loudly that the sound travels from the hills.
-
You and I Are Disappearing
They could be leaving and starting a new life.
-
-
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
-
Or does it explode?
I feel like you could go two ways with this, does the dream explode and get destroyed being forgotten forever and never sought after or does it make a comeback and become known again after the explosion.
-
like a heavy load.
Comparing a heavy load sagging to a dream being deferred and pushed away.
-
Maybe it just sags
He is saying that maybe it just hangs down and sits there when a dream is deferred.
-
like a syrupy sweet?
If you leave a syrupy sweet out it will crust and sugar over and he is comparing this to a dream.
-
Or crust and sugar over—
If a dream is forgotten or abandoned will it dry up.
-
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Once deferred does a dream look appalling or not wanted anymore.
-
And then run?
The dream escape from you.
-
Or fester like a sore—
Does a dream become infected when deferred?
-
like a raisin in the sun?
He uses a raisin a raisin to describe dreams being deferred.
-
Does it dry up
Do you run out of desire for your dreams?
-
What happens to a dream deferred?
Basically saying what happens to a dream that is put off. Does it disappear and never resurface?
-
Harlem
Hughes lived in Harlem for a part of his life and dreams were acheived there.
-
-
gcs.instructure.com gcs.instructure.com
-
Negroes be running through the block shootin'
He is talking about people shooting at other people.
-
Reminiscing about the last time the Task Force flipped
He is remembering old days.
-
G-packs get off quick, forever negroes talk stuff
People are talking behind his back.
-
Laughing at baseheads trying to sell some broken amps
He is mocking people who are struggling and selling anything they can to make money.
-
Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
Gambling in New York
-
I keep some E&J, sitting bent up in the stairway
E&J is a type of drink and "bent up" basically means being angry about something.
-
Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
He is referring to a gun that he is going to use to shoot enemies.
-
Bullet holes left in my peepholes, I'm suited up in street clothes
He lived in a dangerous part of town.
-
Holding an M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now
Many rappers talk about guns in there songs and Nas calls himself extreme meaning dangerous because he has an M-16.
-
I be kicking, musician, inflictin' composition
He is changing the industry with his music?
-
Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm
His rhymes are better than other rappers?
-
Where fake negroes don't make it back
Is he saying they die?
-
Straight out the friggin dungeons of rap
Makes me think of starting from the bottom and making his way up.
-
Yeah, it's time man (aight negro, begin)
He keeps on repeating the "time" to hype up what he is about to say.
-
(Word, it's time negro?)
He is getting ready to start rapping.
-
Yeah yeah, aiyyo black it's time (word?)
It is the start of the poem and when he says, "word?", he is asking if it is time.
-
-
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
-
floating perfectly through the net.
The power forward finally makes the layup and finishes the fast break.
-
and swiveling back to see an orange blur
He turns around quickly, just catching a sight of the basketball.
-
for the game he loved like a country
His love for the game was as big as a country or he loved the game like someone would love a country.
-
with a wild, headlong motion
The power forward is falling head first.
-
inexplicably falling, hitting the floor
He fell and hit the floor from losing his balance after the layup.
-
but losing his balance in the process,
While taking a shot he loses his balance midair and will hit the floor and possibly hurt himself.
-
against the glass for a lay-up,
The power forward uses the glass to make a layup.
-
by himself now and laying it gently
Ironic because it talks about the power forward exploding and in a fury he lays the ball gently.
-
in a fury, taking the ball into the air
He takes the ball into his own hands and attempts to score for his team.
-
while the power-forward explodes past them
One of the players on the team runs past the forward forcefully.
-
and commits to the wrong man
He goes up against the wrong player.
-
until the guard finally lunges out
The guard breaks the tandem and moves away.
-
a single bounce hitting the hardwood
The ball did not hit the basketball court a single time.
-
between them without a dribble, without
They were passing the ball back and forth and not letting the ball touch the ground.
-
together as brothers passing the ball
They were passing the ball to each other to have the best opportunity of scoring.
-
and filling the lanes in tandem, moving
The two forwards were in a line running down the court.
-
the way that forwards should, fanning out
These players should always be doing these things.
-
both forwards racing down the court
2 players are running down the court to score and prevent the other from scoring.
-
like a coach’s drawing on the blackboard,
Talking about the guard analyzing a play and relating it to the plays a coach would make on a board.
-
in slow motion, almost exactly
The player is analyzing the play and deciding what is the best thing to do.
-
letting the play develop in front of him
A player is not moving around on the court and is letting the other players advance around him.
-
of a high, gliding dribble and a man
A description of the guard who got by the defender.
-
in the wrong direction, trying to catch sight
The defender is still confused by the guards moves.
-
who looks stunned and nailed to the floor
The defender was surprised about the guard getting past him and is confused and frozen in awe.
-
scissoring past a flat-footed defender
Could be talking about getting past a challenge.
-
an underhand pass toward the other guard
This is another type of pass but I feel like the poet is trying to describe an something that happened to Dennis Turner which the poem is in memory of.
-
to the outlet who is already shoveling
the outlet is another player on the same team and shoveling is a type of pass.
-
and spinning around to throw a strike
The poet throws a baseball term "strike" to describe the centers pass to his teammate.
-
from the air like a cherished possession
The center grabs the ball from the air like its the most important thing to him.
-
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
Orange leather is the basketball
-
boxes out his man and times his jump
The center blocks someone from recovering the basketball and jumps up to get the ball at the perfect time.
-
and for once our gangly starting center
the center is very tall and skinny, and the poet makes it seem like he can never do things right.
-
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop,
The ball sits on the rim.
-
A hook shot kisses the rim and
A player to a shot with one hand and hits the rim and misses.
-
Fast Break
When a team moves up the court quickly before the other team can defend.
-
-
poets.org poets.orgTo Prisoners14
-
in the many many mornings-after;
She repeats mornings twice so she we notice how long after it is.
-
in the non-cheering dark,
When I see the word cheering, I think of her having no support and being on her own.
-
cultivation of strength to heal and enhance
The author is now asking for strength to heal and advance instead of just strength in the dark. When reading this I feel like the author is going on the offensive side and fighting back more by using the words heal and enhance.
-
I call for you
The third time help has been asked for.
-
Overwhat wants to crumble you down, to sicken
They are fighting whatever wants to crumble them down and sicken them, and I think it is the darkness.
-
long blows that you want to give and blows you are going to get.
I feel like she is trying to say that overcoming a challenge will hurt you and the other person by talking about punching each other.
-
cultivation of victory Over
The first line states, "cultivation of strength" and this line states, "cultivation of victory". It shows that she has overcome her challenges and teaches a life lesson that strength can lead to victory.
-
I call for you
She wants help from someone.
-
Where it is dry.Where it is dry.
This could indicate that the setting is dry. Or it could indicate how she feels inside.
-
Under the wolves and coyotes of particular silences
At night wolves and coyotes are usually loud and howling.
-
in the hot paralysis.
This line contradicts the one above because now she is frozen but hot.
-
in the vertigo cold.
She is confused and spinning while cold.
-
Dark gardening
Gardening is something that brings life so when the poet brings in the word dark I believe it is the opposite of life.
-
I call for you cultivation of strength in the dark.
I think that she is asking for strength through difficult times.
-
-
studio.edx.org studio.edx.org
-
Nor any know I know the ArtI mention ‑ easy ‑ Here ‑Nor any Placard boast me ‑Itʹs full as Opera
No one knows that she knows how to do ballet and no one boasts for her. These lines really show that she dances for herself and is independent.
-
Till I was out of sight, in sound
She is insecure of her dancing and does not feel comfortable dancing in front of others.
-
Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,Nor rolled on wheels of snow
I feel like she is saying that she did things her own way and danced for herself and no one else.
-