Ozymandias
I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunk less 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 decayOf that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Meanings of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The poem “Ozymandias” by P. B. Shelley presents a first-person speaker who speaks about a statue and its facial countenances. He concludes the main idea of the poem is the transient nature of power, the end of tyranny, and the ravages of times.
Meanings of Lines 1-8
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;
Shelley presents a speaker who met a traveler. He narrates the story of that traveler in his verses. The poet states the traveler was coming from some ancient land who told him that he once found a statue in some desert standing upright but without a torso. However, he found his broken face near the statue half buried in the sand of that desert, he told him. The traveler further stated that the facial expressions of the statue demonstrated his frown and anger as if he was sneering haughtily. It also showed that the person who created that statute perfectly understood the facial expressions of that person and created them through the stone. Although the intention of the sculptor seemed to have mocked the expression, it shows that the heart and feelings imprinted on that statue demonstrated the reality of those times. This stanza shows half of the theme of the main idea of the poem, which is tyranny, its transient nature, and its depiction in art.
Meanings of Lines 9-14
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.”
Shelley presents the speaker again in these verses to show what is written on this piece of art is depicting the furious feelings and impressions of the dictator on his face despite its dilapidated condition. These lines show the words that he used to be a king of kinds, Ozymandias. The inscription shows he has achieved miracles through his might. However, nothing stays permanent except the art and what it depicts through the work of that artist. The writing shows his haughtiness as well as expressions, but its importance subsides beside the situation of the remnants of that statue. The great stretch of the sand in the desert, besides this colossal wreckage of his statue, shows the permanence of time and art as compared to the impermanence or transient nature of power and dictatorship. This is what these lines contribute to the main idea of the poem.
Summary of Ozymandias
Popularity: Ozymandias, a sonnet written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a famous romantic poet, is a timeless masterpiece among poetries. It was published in the June 11, 1818, issue of The Examiner in London. The poem was composed to show the fragility of life and fame and to remind us that nothing lasts forever. Ozymandias is the Greek name of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II who ruled around 1300 B.C, and his statue is said to be the main inspiration of the poem.
Ozymandias as a Representative of Art and Culture: As this poem is written about a ruined statue, it presents the perspective of a young traveler who provides a detailed description of the scattered ruins of the statue. The poem explores the fun of art and beauty in the natural world. The expression of wonder starts in the first line and runs throughout the poem. However, what stays in the minds of the readers is the impact of the transience of life and the permanence of art.
Major Themes: The poem comprises the emotions of a traveler who imagines the story of the ruins of a statue in a desert. The traveler expresses that the statue was broken; two legs were standing without a body, and the head was half sunk in the sand. He also explains the expressions of the statue, such as the “frown” and “sneer of cold command,” which indicates that the sculptor has made the statue speak for itself. The lifeless statue has the name Ozymandias, the kings of kings, on its pedestal. The name indicates the readers to look at the massive statue of the mighty king, but the ruined state means that nothing remains after one’s death, even if he is a king. It shows the keen observation of the traveler on the one hand and the artistic skills of a sculptor on the other.
Analysis of Literary Devices in Ozymandias
literary devices work as tools for writers to use to enrich their texts. With the help of literary devices, the writers directly or indirectly project their main ideas. Their use brings richness and clarity to the texts. Shelley also reveals his artistic skill in this poem using various literary devices.
1) Metaphor: There is one extended metaphor used in the poem. The statue of Ozymandias metaphorically represents power, legacy, and command. It clarifies the meanings of the object and makes it clear that once the king was mighty and all-powerful. It also shows that the sand has eroded the actual shape of the statue, representing the destructive power of time.
2) Personification: Shelley used personification, which means using human emotions for inanimate objects. He uses personification twice in the poem. The fifth line, “And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,” refers to the broken head of the statue. However, the lifeless statue of Ozymandias is referred to as a real person. The second example is in the sixth line of the poem where “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read” shows as if the statue is commanding the sculptor how to carve or express his emotions.
3) Imagery: Imagery is used to make the reader feel things through the five senses. The poet has used images involving a sense of sights, such as two vast and trunkless legs, a shattered face, wrinkled lip and desert. These images help readers visualize the status of the broken statue.
4) Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same lines of the poetry, such as the use of /c/ in “cold command”, the sound of /b/ in “boundless and bear” and the sound of /l/ in “lone and level.
5) Enjambment: The term enjambment refers to lines that end without any punctuation marks. Shelley used enjambments in the second and sixth lines of the poem where it is stated, “Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone” and “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read”.
6) Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds in the same line such as the sounds of /a/ in “stand and sand” and the sound of /e/ in “well and read.”
7) Irony: Irony is a figure of speech used to present the opposite meanings of words. Ozymandias’s description presents him as a mighty, great, and fierce king, but in reality, there is nothing but a broken, lifeless statue.
8) Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as /s/ in “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown”.
Concluding the literary devices, it can be stated that, on the one hand, these literary devices have provided uniqueness to the text, and on the other, they have opened up new vistas for interpretations. Moreover, Shelley has explored many contemporary issues under these literary devices.
Analysis of Poetic Devices in “Ozymandias”
Although most of the poetic devices are the same literary devices, some poetic devices are used in poetry and not in prose. The analysis of some of the prominent poetic devices in the poem is given below.
1) Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in which the same idea runs throughout the poem in both of its parts such as the first part, an octet (eight lines), and a sextet (six lines), the second part. “Ozymandias” also has the same two parts, to be considered as a sonnet.
2) Rhyme Scheme: The whole poem follows ABBAABBACDCDCD. It is different from the traditional rhyme scheme. Shelley used a mixture of an octet and a Shakespearian rhyme scheme. The purpose of this rhyme scheme is to show the progress of time. As the poem progresses, the old pattern of rhyme is replaced with a new pattern which makes the poem unique in its structure.
3) Meter: There is no specific meter throughout the poem. Although the poem is written in iambic pentameter, in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, as it is stated, “half-sunk, a shatt-er’d vis-age lies.” However, by the end, Shelley has used trochee, which means the line begins with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
The analysis shows that this poem, though, it seems a simple description of a statue, deceptively points to the dark reality that power corrupts humans. The statue, even after its ruination, displays harsh expressions to show that the king was not benevolent during his regime. The ruins point out that nothing in the world is permanent.
Quotations for Usage from Ozymandias
- The above-stated lines can be used to give a message of hope and power during a speech or lecture. You can use it to show that the way you live with others speaks about you even after your demise.
“Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.”
- This line can be used to weave fantasy stories and tales to impress the younger audience or even a bedtime story.
“I met a traveler from an antique land.”