<Tr> <Th> Purpose </Th> <Td> Sonnet was engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the monument in 1903 </Td> </Tr> <P> "The New Colossus" is a sonnet that American poet Emma Lazarus (1849--1887) wrote in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty . In 1903, the poem was engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal's lower level . </P> <P> This poem was written as a donation to an auction of art and literary works conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty" to raise money for the pedestal's construction . Lazarus's contribution was solicited by fundraiser William Maxwell Evarts . Initially she refused but writer Constance Cary Harrison convinced her that the statue would be of great significance to immigrants sailing into the harbor . </P> <P> "The New Colossus" was the first entry read at the exhibit's opening on November 2, 1883, and remained associated with the exhibit through a published catalog until the exhibit closed after the pedestal was fully funded in August 1885, but was forgotten and played no role at the opening of the statue in 1886 . It was, however, published in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World as well as The New York Times during this time period . In 1901, Lazarus's friend Georgina Schuyler began an effort to memorialize Lazarus and her poem, which succeeded in 1903 when a plaque bearing the text of the poem was put on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty . </P>

Who wrote give me your tired your poor your huddled masses