Portrait of Emma Lazarus: The Sephardic Jewish Poet Who Redefined Freedom

This image was the frontispiece for an issue of The Century magazine that also included her obituary and one of her poems, alongside the writings of famous people like Theodore Roosevelt and Walt Whitman. How might this combination suggest Lazarus’s importance in her lifetime?

Lazarus engaged deeply with Jewish history, writing Songs of a Semite, a poetry collection; and Dance to Death, a drama of twelfth-century persecution published with Hebrew poems of medieval Spain. Are there any ways that this image reflects her Jewish heritage? If not, why not?

How is Lazarus’s character depicted by this engraving? Consider the expression on her face, the way her appearance is angled, her clothing, and her hairstyle.