OZYMANDIAS

PERCY SHELLEY
 background
P.B.Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 in West Sussex, England. He was the eldest
legitimate son of Sir Timothy Shelley, a Sussex landowner. He had four younger sisters
and a much younger brother. He received his early education at home. His early
childhood has been recounted in ‘The life of Percy Bysshe Shelley ‘by his friend and
cousin, Thomas Medwin.
He studied at Eton college and later at Oxford University. In 1811, Shelley anonymously
published a pamphlet called ’The necessity of Atheism’ which was brought to the attention
of the university administration and he was called to appear before the College’s
fellows, including the Dean. His refusal to repudiate the authorship of the pamphlet
resulted in his expulsion from Oxford on 25 March 1811.  He wrote many short stories,
essays, poems out of which the best known are Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, The
Cenci, Adonais, Prometheus Unbound to name a few
 summary
• This is a sonnet (a poem of fourteen lines – the first eight form
an octave and the next six form a sestet).
• It is about a ruined statue which has become so with the
passage of time and here, we can correlate it with
Shakespeare’s sonnet ‘Not marble, nor the gilded monuments.
• The title ‘Ozymandias’ is the throne name of Egyptian king
Ramesses. The poem talks about his foolish desire to
immortalize himself by erecting a statue
• The poet meets a person who has been to an ancient place in the
deserts, Egypt. He tells the poet about the ruined statue of the great
powerful king, Ozymandias. It had been destroyed with the passage
of time.
• There were only the two legs which stood on a platform and the
upper part of the body was nowhere to be seen. The face of the
statue lay buried in the sand. He praises the talent of the artist as
the minutest expressions and wrinkles had been perfectly copied by
him
• The engraving on the platform reflects the pride and arrogance
of Ozymandias. As the statue is now destroyed, the engraving is
a mockery at the pride and ego of the king.
• 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
 Line by line analysis
• I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—
• The speaker of the poem once met a traveler from ‘an antique land’. So, the
traveller was from a place with an ancient history like Rome, Greece or
ancient Egypt. The traveller told him his story of the ruins of a giant statue
that he had come across
• So, it’s a story within a story, a narrative within a narrative. It is suggestive of
how pride and glory of power fade away with time.
• “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies,
• The traveller told the narrator that he saw two huge stone-legs of a statue in the
middle of a desert. ‘Trunkless’ suggests that the legs were standing there without
the upper body or the torso. The desert indicates that it was ancient Egypt. Near the
standing legs he also came across the broken head (shattered visage) of the statue
that was partially buried in the sand. visage means a face; but it implies a head here
• The shattered head denotes that the whole statue is destroyed. But we
don’t really know what exactly happened to that statue. It’s perhaps just
the natural process of decay with time.
• …whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
• The traveller goes on to describe that the face of the statue lying on the sand
had the expressions still visible and identifiable of the mighty ruler
Ozymandias. He has used ‘frown’, ‘wrinkled up’ and ‘sneer of cold command’
to give us an impression that the subject of the statue was an angry,
commanding and often upset man
• But the next line shifts the attention from the statue to the sculptor who created
it. The traveller admires that the artist understood and felt (read) his subject’s
(the man in the statue) passions and emotions very well. That is why he could
draw the face so perfectly that it is still visible
• Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
The man continues his praise for the sculptor. The words ‘which yet survive’
implies the immortality of a work of art that the artist created. His creation is
still alive (stamped) on the otherwise lifeless stones. The sculptor’s hands
copied and portrayed (mocked) his subject’s passions and his heart felt those
and inspired (fed) to make it possible. So, that hand and that heart ‘yet
survive’ through this masterful creation
• And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Now, again the poem shifts to the statue. The traveller quotes the words written on its
pedestal. The inscription declares the name of the man. It’s Ozymandias. He also
regarded himself as the ‘King of Kings’. The ruler addresses others who think
themselves powerful (Mighty) to look at his works to get their illusion shattered
(despair). This was the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, the ‘works’ might
indicate to the famous temples and statues he built.
• Here Ozymandias is giving a warning to the other kings and rulers not to
hope for much greatness, as they can never cross his achievements. That
certainly gives an impression of his proud and commanding nature. But
ironical enough, his own statue is now grounded by the great force of
nature
• Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
And here comes the final words from the traveller on how there is nothing
except those ruins and the sands all around. ‘The colossal Wreck’ hints at how
the gigantic statue and the high-flying passions attached to it are all dusted now.
The ‘boundless and bare’ and the ‘lone and level’ sands stretching far away
symbolizes the vastness of time
 Structure
• 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.
• 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.
 Literary Devices in Ozymandias
• 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.
•  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
• 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.
• Alliteration – Shelley uses the sounds within words to create harsh and soft
enunciations across lines, in keeping with the tone and meanings that the poem
addresses. For example, when describing Ozymandias’ expression, Shelley repeats the
harsh ‘c’ sound in ‘cold command’ to add to the idea that this was a harsh leader.
Conversely, the soft ‘l’ sound is repeated in ‘lone and level sands,’ emphasising the
beauty of nature.
• 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”.
• 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
• Caesurae – Caesurae is a break in the rhythm within a line – Shelley does
this at several points throughout the poem, each time to create significant
effects. For example, the first break is after “Who said” on the second
line. This pause mimics the traveller’s sharp intake of breath before
recalling the details of the scene. Another example comes after ‘Stands in
the desert.’ The use of the full stop at this point reinforces the isolation of
the statue amongst the vast desert.
• Juxtaposition/ Oxymoron – The juxtaposition of contrasting vocabulary
helps to show the irony in Ozymandias’ bold statements of power. For
example, the words etched onto the pedestal give an idea of immortality
and grandeur: ‘King’ and ‘Mighty’ contrast sharply with the reality of
‘Nothing’ and ‘decay.’ Another example is the use of the oxymoron in the
term ‘colossal Wreck.’