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What makes life special is its limited nature. Knowing that there is a future where you can no longer exist is hard to come to terms with. This topic is greatly explored in British poetry, especially by the likes of Percy Shelley and Shakespeare. Literature like this helps the reader consider new ways of thinking about the vastness of time, to either empower them to live life to the fullest, or encourage the reader to leave a legacy of their own. I was inspired to research this topic after reading Percy Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. A traveler talks about a memory of his, where he once saw a broken statue of “Ozymandias, King of Kings;” (Shelley 10) laying barren in the expanse of the desert. It shows that even a pharaoh can't leave an impact on time strong enough to let their memory persist. Upon first readthrough, the message of this poem was confusing to me. Is the story of the traveler supposed to discourage us, as anything we do will eventually be forgotten, both by people and the world itself, or is it to live life to the fullest, and not worry about years after your death, as no one is going to remember your mistakes.

As I take my steps to integrating myself into the professional world, this is an especially important question for me to answer myself. What exactly is my goal in going to college? Is it to set myself up to be someone who has influence, or should it be to set myself up for a more relaxed and fun future. These questions are important ones to answer now, as these answers are what will influence the tone under which I experience the next transformative years of my life.

Time is one of the key themes of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Though Shelley leaves the question rather open ended, Shakespeare is very clearly trying to convey a message. Time is vast, and death has no exception, but this should not discourage you from living. This fact is why it is important for us to make the most of our lives as the legacy we leave behind, with our literature, love and children is what is going to keep us immortalized. The uplifting nature of these sonnets made them extremely fun to read. Whenever I read one, I would be left in a good mood for the rest of the day. These sonnets are ones that I am going to save for when I am facing existential or self confidence issues in the future.

As I reflect on this essential question I am slowly approaching an answer that I will be sticking to for the years to come. I want to succeed in life, to be specific, I want to have challenged myself to improve, make meaningful relationships, and leave a legacy within a smaller, more personal scale. I am not concerned with becoming the next billionaire or starting the next big company. I want to meet people that I will enjoy spending time with, and that will help me push myself individually.

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https://poemanalysis.com/percy-bysshe-shelley/ozymandias/

This article talks about the meaning, context, literature and FAQs about Ozymandias. It greatly helped me understand the message underneath the complex writing.

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Poem Analyzed by Jamie Jenson

English Teacher, with a B.A. Honors in English and a M.Sc. in Education

'Ozymandias' is written by one of the greatest 19th-century British poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was first published in 1818 in The Examiner of London under Shelley's pen name, "Gilrastes." In this sonnet, Shelley's speaker encounters a traveler from an antique land. The traveler describes the colossal wreckage of a great pharaoh's statue. He not only notices how the parts of the statue stand on the sand but also depicts the surroundings. Collectively, the desert and the worn-out statue hint at the central idea of the sonnet, the futility of human actions. It also taps on the themes of the impermanence of power, fate, and the inevitability of rulers' fall.

OzymandiasPercy Bysshe Shelley

'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley describes a traveler's reaction to the half-buried, worn-out statue of the great pharaoh, Ramses II.

In this poem, the speaker describes meeting a traveler "from an antique land." The title, 'Ozymandias,' notifies the reader that this land is most probably Egypt since Ozymandias was what the Greeks called Ramses II. He was a great and terrible pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

The traveler tells a story to the speaker. In the story, he describes visiting Egypt. There, he saw a large and intimidating statue of Ramses in the desert. He can tell that the sculptor must have known his subject well because it is obvious from the statue's face that this man was a great leader, but one who could also be very vicious.

He describes his sneer as having a "cold command." Even though the leader was probably very great, it seems that the only thing that survives from his realm is this statue, which is half-buried and somewhat falling apart.

'Ozymandias' carries an extended metaphor throughout the entire poem. All around the traveler is desert - nothing is green or growing; the land is barren. The statue, however, still boasts of the accomplishments this civilization had in the past. The desert represents the fall of all empires - nothing powerful and rich can ever stay that strong forever. This metaphor is made even more commanding in the poem by Shelley's use of an actual ruler. He utilizes an allusion to a powerful ruler in ancient Egypt to show that even someone so all-powerful will eventually fall.

Structure and Form

'Ozymandias' is considered to be a Petrarchan sonnet, even though the rhyme scheme varies slightly from the traditional sonnet form. Structurally all sonnets contain fourteen lines and are written in iambic pentameter.

The rhyme scheme of 'Ozymandias' is ABABACDC EDEFEF. This rhyme scheme differs from the rhyme scheme of a traditional Petrarchan sonnet, whose octave (the first eight lines of the poem) usually has a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA. Its sestet (the final six lines of the sonnet) does not have an assigned rhyme scheme, but it usually rhymes in every other line or contains three different rhymes.

Shelley's defiance of this rhyme scheme helps to set apart 'Ozymandias' from other Petrarchan sonnets, and it is perhaps why this poem is so memorable. The reason he did this may have been to represent the corruption of authority or lawmakers.

Literary Devices

Shelley plays with a number of figurative devices in order to make the sonnet more appealing to readers. These devices include:

Enjambment: Shelley uses this device throughout the text. For example, it occurs in lines 2-8. By enjambing the lines, the poet creates a surprising flow.

Metaphor: The "sneer of cold command" contains a metaphor. Here, the ruler's contempt for his subjugates is compared to the ruthlessness of a military commander.

Irony: Shelley uses this device in the following lines, "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!/ Nothing beside remains." The following lines also contain this device.

Synecdoche: In the poem, the "hand" and "heart" collectively hint at the pharaoh, Ozymandias, as a whole. It is a use of synecdoche.

The line "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings" is an allusion to the actual inscription described in the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica.

Detailed Analysis

Line 1

I met a traveller from an antique land,

The text of 'Ozymandias' reads more like a story than a poem, although the line rhymes do help to remind the reader that this is not prose. The speaker in the poem, perhaps Percy Bysshe Shelley, tells the story from his point of view, using the pronoun "I."

In the first line, he talks about meeting a traveler from an antique country. At first, this line is a tad ambiguous: Is the traveler from "an antique land," or did he just come back from visiting one? The reader also does not know where the speaker first met this sojourner. The title indicates which land the traveler has visited. Greeks called Ramses II a powerful Egyptian pharaoh, Ozymandias. So, it is easy for the reader to recognize the "antique land" is Egypt, one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Lines 2-4

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,

These lines are much clearer than the first, however, and it is clear to the reader what, exactly, is occurring in the sonnet. The rest of the poem is actually written in dialogue; the traveler recounts his experiences in Egypt to the poet's persona.

Lines two through fourteen are only one sentence in length, as well. These lines also contain some of the most vivid and beautiful imagery in all of poetry. Shelley was such a masterful writer that it does not take much effort on the reader's part to imagine the scene in this piece clearly.

In lines two through four, the traveler describes a statue he saw in Egypt. Through the eyes of the traveler, the reader sees two massive legs carved from stone lying in the desert sand. Nearby, the face of the statue is half-buried. The face is broken, but the traveler can still see the sculpture is wearing a frown and a sneer. From this, he is able to tell that this ruler probably had absolute power, and he most definitely ruled with an iron fist. It is also easy to interpret that this ruler probably had a lot of pride as the supreme leader of his civilization.

Lines 5-8

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;

The traveler then turns his attention to the sculptor who made the statue. He comments that whomever the sculptor is, he knew his subject very well. Anyone could say that the artist had exceptionally captured the passions of the ruler. Though the pharaoh is long dead, he exists through the creation of a mere sculptor. So, who is more powerful in this case? Undoubtedly, it is the sculptor.

He also seems to be commenting in line seven that while there is an end to living beings, art is eternal-it survives. The gracious carves and the master's touch live past the remnants of history. In the next line, the traveler provides interesting insight into the leader here. First, his hands show that the pharaoh mocked his people, yet his heart was not all bad: he fed and cared for his people, as well. The hand that held the rod fed not only the citizen but also mocked their pettiness. This line provides an interesting dichotomy often found in the most terrible of leaders. Besides, the "hand" stands for Ozymandias as a whole. It is a use of synecdoche.

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."

Lines nine through eleven give more details about the sculpture, and the latter ones include words that have been etched into the ruler's pedestal. The words carved on the pedestal, on which the leader sits, also tell of Ozymandias' personality. He is ordering those who see him to look upon all that he has created but do not appreciate what he has done. Instead, the speaker has to despair and be afraid of it. These words perfectly depict the leader's hubris.

The last three lines, however, take on a different tone. Now, the leader is gone, and so is his empire. Shelley implements irony into these lines to show that even though this broken statue remains, the leader's civilization does not. It has fallen, much like the statue, and has turned to dust.

These lines are really powerful. The traveler almost seems to be mocking the ruler. Besides, Shelley's diction here is important. He uses words such as "decay" and "bare" to show just how powerless this once-mighty pharaoh has become. There is absolutely nothing left. The leader, much like his land, and much like the broken statue depicting him, has fallen. It is in these lines that the theme of the poem emerges: all leaders will eventually pass, and all great civilizations will eventually turn into dust.

Shelley makes use of a number of themes in this sonnet. The most important theme is the impermanence of a ruler's glory and his legacy. It is an implicit hint at the idea of futility. No matter how hard a man tries to rivet his name, at some point, people will forget him. For example, Ozymandias tried to become greater than God. He declared himself the "King of Kings." If we look at history, every ambitious ruler declared them, more or less, by the same title. In their pursuit of greatness, they forgot about their very nature: every living thing must die. Besides, the sonnet also utilizes the themes of vainglory, the power of art, the decline of power, etc.

The overall theme of 'Ozymandias' is serious and awe-inspiring. For instance, the line, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone," arouses both fear and pity in the readers' hearts. The size of the statue undoubtedly makes us wonder about the greatness and power of the ruler. Yet, they also take pity on the decaying depiction of the statue. It makes them think about the nature of human achievement. In the next lines, the tone becomes more serious and fearful. As the poem progresses to the end, it seems the tone softens a bit. The speaker somehow sympathizes with the faded glory of the great ruler, Ozymandias. He emotionally speaks about the inevitability of death and decay.

Historical Context

It is an understatement to say that Shelley was a clever man. While one can read this poem to be about an ancient leader of Egypt, the poem could also be read as a criticism for the world in which Shelley lived. Ever the political critic, Shelley perhaps warns the leaders of England that they, too, will fall someday. Their overarching ambition might lead them to their own downfall.

There is an interesting story behind the composition of the poem. In Shelley's literary cycle, the members would challenge each other to write poems about a common subject. In 1817, Horace Smith spent his Christmas at Shelley's house. They both chose a passage from Diodorus Siculus's book Bibliotheca historica that contained the inscription:

King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work.

They challenged one another to write a sonnet out of it. In Shelley's sonnet, the "traveller from an antique land" is the historian Siculus. The poem was published in The Examiner on 11 January 1818. Explore Shelley's 1817 draft and the published versionfrom The Examiner.

You can read Horace Smith's sonnet below and compare it with Shelley's poem.

Ozymandias

IN Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desart knows:-
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand."- The City's gone,-
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder,-and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.
Horace Smith

About Percy Bysshe Shelley

Though Shelley was one of the important Romantic poets, he never achieved fame while he was alive. However, he did keep company with some extremely talented writers. His good friends include Lord Byron and John Keats. Besides, he was married to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Shelley's best-loved poems include 'Ozymandias,' 'To a Skylark,' and 'Ode to the West Wind,' which is perhaps his most lauded work.

Born into a well-to-do family, Shelley eventually attended Oxford, where he first started his writing career. He was expelled, however, when he refused to admit that he was the author of an anonymous text, " The Necessity of Atheism."

Shelley met and fell in love with a young Mary Godwin, even though he was already married. He abandoned his family to be with her; they married after his first wife committed suicide, and Mary changed her surname to Shelley.

Tragically, Shelley died young, at the age of 29, when the boat he was sailing got caught in a storm. His body washed to shore sometime later.

Why was 'Ozymandias' written?

Who is Ozymandias?

When was 'Ozymandias' published?

What does Ozymandias mean?

What is Ozymandias?

What is the poem about?

Similar Poems

Readers who liked Shelley's 'Ozymandias' could also find the following poems interesting. These poems tap into similar themes.

by Francis Duggan - This poem straightforwardly deals with the human ego and pride.

'Dust If You Must' by Rose Milligan - This piece is about the futility of life and the impermanence of human achievements.

'To A Louse' by Robert Burns - In this poem, Burns gives a satiric overview of human vanity.

You can also explore these thought-provoking poems about human life.

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Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley - Poem Analysis

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'Ozymandias' is about the nature of power. It is an important piece that features how a great ruler like Ozymandias, and his legacy, was prone to impermanence and decay.

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"Ozymandius" by Percy Byshe Shelley
The vastness of time, almost as though whatever you do now, will not matter in decades from now. Just as Ozymandius, king of kings, couldn't make his legacy last, our efforts are going to be just as insignificant and futile.

Sonnet 12 by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare here talks about the vastness of time, and how everything eventually comes to ruin, but yet again there is a positive message as it talks about how one’s legacy is carried by their predecessors, that what you do to the world is little compared to the impact you make on people.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare again acknowledges the vastness of time, but like his other sonnets talks about how though people die their legacy carries on, in this case with the literature about them.

Sonnet 60 by William Shakespeare
Time consumes everything, and it keeps on ticking but Shakespeare argues his works will be a legacy he leaves behind, having an impact. This goes directly against Shelley's idea that people can't leave an impact due to the vastness of time.

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"the persistence of memory" by salvador dali

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This piece reminded me of "Ozymandias", where a barren dessert reflects the passage of time. How everything unique in the dessert is being covered by a clock, showing that its time is ticking down.

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Since I focused on multiple poets, I picked the time period where this topic was primarily discussed, to give us more context into what everyone was facing as a society during that time period.

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The Renaissance was an an awakening in Europe inspired by the reintroduction of Greek and Roman literature after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, artists of all circumstances began experimenting and expressing themselves in new, distinct ways.

Two of the main artistic consequences of the Renaissance were poetry and drama. The arrival of the share of knowledge provided by the printing press coupled with the start of international trade, allowed people to widen their banks of information. The Renaissance period saw the rise of the middle class through education; more and more people had the opportunity to obtain an education. Therefore, poetry and drama were no longer intended for just the privileged. Poetry and drama became shared artistic concepts among all classes because of the newfound influx of information.

Poetry in the Renaissance became one of the most valued forms of literature and was often accompanied by music. According to The Literature Network, the poetic forms most commonly employed during this period were the lyric, tragedy, elegy or pastoral. The goal of each poet was to capture the essence of beauty in the modern world, "the chief aim of English Renaissance verse was to encapsulate beauty and truth in words. English poetry of the period was ostentatious, repetitious, and often betrayed a subtle wit" ( The Literature Network, 2017). One of the most significant poems written during this time is the epic Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667). According to Referatele, the purpose of this epic was to communicate the reasoning behind God's decision involving Adam and Eve's fall from Eden and to "express the central Christian truths of freedom, sin, and redemption as he conceived ." Milton expressed this point in the poem, "I may assert eternal providence, / And justify the ways of God to men (Line 26).

William Shakespeare dominated the English drama arena during the Renaissance. Shakespeare's ability to alternate between different genres, comedy and tragedy, while continuously teaching a profound lesson is what set him apart from the rest. Shakespeare's Macbeth is a tragedy in which a noble soldier goes rogue with greed, killing several people; he does all of this because of a prophesy. In the end, nothing yet everything goes as planned. Shakespeare attempts to warn audiences against fooling with fate. Shakespeare is regarded as one of the greatest playrights and even created several words in the English language. However, much of Shakespeare's life is unknown; there are gaps of time when Shakespeare's presence is absent from society. To learn more about his life, read the University of North Georgia Press's biography.

The developments of poetry and drama are significant to the era as a whole as they added a new form of entertainment and source of information to all of the classes.

What is your favorite Shakespeare play and why?

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The Renaissance was an an awakening in Europe inspired by the reintroduction of Greek and Roman literature after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, artists of all circumstances began experimenting and expressing themselves in new, distinct ways. Two of the main artistic consequences of the Renaissance were poetry and drama.

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This is one of my favorite photographs, taken by voyager 1, the tiny dot seen in the image is earth. This really gives us context on how insignificant we are in scale, but at the same time gives us confidence for how important what we have is.

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http://www.umsl.edu/~fraundorfp/ifzx/earthtimes.html

This is an article that give us a better scale for what time is, and how miniscule our time is compared to the scale of living things.