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CREDITS Poetry: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
Voice-Over: Katy Mantyk
Photos/Footage: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” by Edward Moran, 1886 (Public Domain) Music: “Slow Walk Into The Sunset” by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Adam, thank you very much indeed! I'm glad to hear you find the dodo humorous. I think Lewis Carroll may…
Scott, thank you very much for your kind and appreciative comments. I am glad so many of us on this…
Martin, what a generous and inspirational comment. My Muse is dancing with delight and telling me to fetch my pen…
... and I absolutely love your “memento mori” observation. My personified Earth IS whispering of our own mortality. Perhaps the…
Brian, as ever your comments are perceptive and generous and a pleasure to receive. Your close reading of the form…
Thank you, Katy. That’s one of my favourite poems. Well read.
Wonderfully written and read – thank you! Michael Maibach
This is a gorgeous setting of a poem which is stunning in its generosity and humility. Emma Lazarus captured so much of the American spirit in only a very few words. The combination of the visual, the music and Katy’s spot-on reading is both moving and inspiring. Well done. I didn’t want it to end.
It’s hard to add to these comments. Sometimes perfect poems arise from unexpected places. As I listened, Katy, I felt that you embodied, represented, and channeled Lady Liberty herself. It’s just too bad that current circumstances require that we back off from some of the extravagant promises suggested in the poem. How different things might be if the invaders on our southern borders were required to pass through New York Harbor.
I have a huge model of the Statue of Liberty on my mantelpiece to which I gazed whilst taking in the words of this inspiring poem, beautifully delivered to the perfect Hans Zimmer-like soundtrack. Evan and Katy, full marks for this.
This poem has one of the most powerful and deathless images in all poetry: the words “Mother of Exiles.” I get a lump in my throat whenever I read that.
My mother’s first name was Liberty.
I have a slim volume of Lazarus’ poetry. I think she’s been greatly under-appreciated.