Lazarus wrote many lyric poems. She used classic forms like rhyme royal and ottava rima (in the cycle named "Epochs"). She was especially good at writing sonnets. Her best known work is the sonnet "The New Colossus". It was placed at The Statue of Liberty in New York. She also translated into English poems by romantic German poet Henrich Heine. As a journalist she always protested against any kind of discrimination. 