Statue of liberty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statue of liberty - Essay Example This poem captures precisely what the features of the statue symbolise; it emphasises that America is the land for all and that it constitutes a state that will take all from around the globe and accept them as Americans. Written in 1886, America was a great nation in the making, a scarcity of people meant that such literature was of great effect in tandem with the statue in inviting and encouraging people to come help build a great nation in the making. Standing at a colossal height, the statue oversees the American people and is looked up to by the American people as a mother to their society and the carer and educator of their lives; her colossal height and empowering height acts as a symbolic reminder of the awe-inspiring makeup of a great nation and her piercing eyes represents the convictions of the American people but, importantly, also acts as a God-like inspirer and guider to instil faith and remind the people of their responsibilities at times where moral and social corruption plagues the American society. The torch she carries ignites and fires into the sky the notions of freedom and liberty, the flames being seen and felt by citizens and guest alike (whether in proximity or not), and through its scorching heat defends against, and attacks, the plague of oppression and tyranny. At the same time, the chains at her foot represent Liberty crushing the chains of slavery. Yet the principles embodied within her are not exclusiv e only to the American people; the general appearance of the statue's head is reminiscent of the Greek Sun-god Apollo who dressed in a similar robe and having on its head a radiate crown with seven spiked rays of the sun's rays. Indeed, the seven spikes are representative of the world and its nations, reinforcing the statue's image as host to all around the world and guests of America and reinforcing America's position as the land of the free and leader of the world as the seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas (Arctic, Antarctic, North & South Atlantic, North & South Pacific, Indian) and seven continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia). Indeed, together with the scorching flames of the torch, the statue, located in the middle of the Hudson river, reinforces its characteristics as a statue for all (water and the ocean generally encapsulates the concepts of liquidity and freedom). To hear the Statue is to travel to it by ferry and hear at the height of her dictating posture the howling wind which