Analyses of Ozymandias - Poem by Percy Shelley

Ozymandias - PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

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1 - Who is the speaker?

• Narrator
• Traveller

2 - What is the situation?

• A meeting between a person and a traveller.
• After be the emperor of a nation, Napoleon had lost the war and been exiled away from home.

3 - What is the central purpose of the poem?

• “Vanity of the claims of human tyrants to enduring glory’ (Arp and Johnson, 2017)
• Transitory nature of power in spite of what the rulers think.
• The power cannot last forever.

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1. Imagery:

• Trunkless legs of stone
• Desert
• Shattered visage (face)
• Frown brows
• Wrinkled lip
• Sneer of cold (mocking and apathetic smile)

2. Meter & Rhyme: Sonnet

• fourteen line
• Irregular Iambic pentameter
• First 8 lines - set ups the frame narrative
• Last 6 lines - explanation related to the first part of the poem

3. Figurative Language:

• Personification:
• “[The statue] tell[s] thats its sculptor well those passions read”
• “Which [The sculture’s passion] yet survive, stamped on these lifeless thing [the wreckage of the sculpture]”
• 4-5 “Whose frown,/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”
• Allusions (indirect reference):
• 10 “King of kings” (Bible quotation) - Ozymandias or Pharaoh Ramses II (ruled Egypt in 13th century BC) feels himself as a god.
• 13 “colossal wreck” - Colossus of Rhodes is a giant statue erected in the city of Rhodes in between Greek and Egypt. It collapsed during the earthquake of 226 BC.

4. Symbol: the statue is a symbol of the ambitious and passion of the pharaoh.  
5. Irony:

• Dramatic irony - the character do not know but reader knows about the situation (Arp and Johnson, 2017)
• As Arp and Johnson put it, “Increasing the irony [dramatic irony] is the fact that the sole remaining work of this self-proclaimed ‘king of kings’ is a huge broken statue (its hugeness manifesting his megalomania), carved by an artist who saw through the self-deluding egocentrism of the ruler and recorded it in stone, mocking Ozymandias, as it were, to his face. In the ‘frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,’ the sculptor knew that his imperceptive and arrogant master would see only the signs of his awesome authority and power whereas the more perceptive viewer would note the absence of joy, wisdom, compassion, and humility – the marks of true greatness – and see only crude ambition and crude passions. The insight of the artist has outlasted the power of the conqueror [dramatic irony].”
• After all, the unique thing that remained from all the egocentrism pharaoh’s power was the artist’s work - “a huge broken statue”.
• The king claim himself as “King of kings” and in the remain things we can see just the broken legs and shattered face on sand. Now, nobody knows him except a traveller who has witnessed this statue.
• The sculptor only saw ambition and passion on the tyrant's face. There is no humility or joy or wisdom or mercy. Even though Ozymandias was great and powerful, the artist’s work overlast the pharol’s empire. (Ozymandias had no idea that anyone could be more powerful than him)
• Ozymandias wants to pass his glory into later generation but ….

• Situational irony - something that does not seem appropriate to that situation (Arp and Johnson, 2017)
• The words on the pedestal underneath the statue
• “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;/ Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
• The king thinks that he is the greatest thing in the world, even though “Nothing beside remains” only emptiness and sand (Arp and Johnson)

Explanation of poem

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

• The traveller describes the biggest thing that he sees: a ruins of a statue - two big legs made out of stone without upper body on the desert...

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

• The head of the statue is partially broken and buried by the sand...

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

• Description of the face’s expression that represents the indifference of this king…
• He is very proud
• He is annoyed

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

• “[The statue] tell[s] thats its sculptor well those passions read”-  the sculpture was very reliable and authentic. The statue reflect in details the personality of the tyrant...

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

• “Which” is the passion of the tyrant. The artist has captured very well.
• The artist’s work outlast the power of Ozymandias...
• Through the remains we cannot see the greatness of the king. Only the artist’s work “stamped on …[the] lifeless things”...

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

• The artist has captured very well so that the statue reflects the real characteristic of the king, a tyrant. Meanwhile, the heart of Ozymandias wants to show off his glory forever...

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

• The claim of Ozy himself that his work is the best on the Earth.
• He is blinded by power that nobody is better than him.
• He thinks he is everlast.
• Whose life’s work has lasted the longest?

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

• The glorious of the great king is nothing now. From the ruins where the traveller stands, there are just sand and a barren landscape. “Nothing beside remains” after the glorious times of Pharaoh Ramses II.
• The visage is about to vanish. It is half sunk but soon it will be gone.