The octave (first eight lines of a sonnet) and the sestet (last six-line stanza of a sonnet) are linked together. The rhyme scheme ABABACDCEDEFEF is uncommon for a sonnet. The sonnet is in Iambic pentameter with some irregularities. So, Diodorus’s work served as the source of the poem. Actually this sonnet got its content from the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus who wrote about a massive Egyptian statue quoting the inscription under it. But, then it gets into a frame of reported speech from another man, ‘a traveller from an antique land’, whom the speaker met. The poem is a narrative poem where the speaker starts it with ‘I’, making it look like a first person narrative. Wikipedia has a side by side comparison of the two poems. It is worth mentioning here that Shelley wrote this poem in competition with his friend Horace Smith who primarily gave his poem the same name ‘Ozymandias’ and published that in the same magazine. Though the subject of the sonnet is not a typical one for Shelley’s poetry, it has been a popular poem and has influenced many other literary creations since its publication. So the poet here highlights the mortality and inevitable decline of so-called mighty leaders and their false pride in contrary to the immortality of creative works. So, what remains alive is the sculptor’s work of art. But the head of the statue which is half-sunk in the sand, still expresses the passions of the ruler. The king once enjoyed his commanding power, but time has brought its decay. Vincent Millay Advertisementsīut, the poem ironically presents a great message about the transitory (short-lived) existence of the boastful might of the ruler.
OZYMANDIAS ANNOTATIONS FREE
You're not finished yet! Continue your revision with our FREE Conflict Poetry, Revision Notes included with your membership.What lips my lips have kissed Poem by Edna St. The lone and level sands stretch far away." (though it seems as if Ozymandias’ chosen ‘last words’ are an attempt to goad and antagonise all who visit his memorial, actually, to the trained eye and mind, they reveal his wisdom and self-awareness he realises that he will be judged and remembered only by his actions in life, and what he has left behind him in death his memory will fade away and disintegrate, just like this statue that serves to perpetuate it) Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' (this inscription sets up an intriguing contrast that’s completed by the closing three lines) The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: (suggests that the sculptor’s work is a true, realistic depiction of this man that the ‘sculptor’ remained unbiased in his work, regardless of what was said and what he’d hear about ‘Ozymandias’) Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, (as before, what the king was noted for, his ‘passions’, has outlived him in the memory of others and in history) I met a traveller from an antique land (poet’s varied way of saying ‘ancient’)Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, (the traveller’s physical description of how the statue appears now time has crumbled it, and yet the former king’s prominent features still thrive, strengthened, arguably, by the decay of the rest of the statue these are its characteristics that he will continue to be remembered by – that are immortal) IfĪnyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works.’
On the base of the statue is written (translated), ‘King of Kings am I, Ozymandias. Statues and sculptures like the one which was unearthed, which the ancient Egyptians The reference to the stone statue is likely a direct reference to the
Ramesses believed themselves to be gods in mortal form and that their legacy would Written by Shelly in a collection in 1819, this poem was inspired by the recent unearthing of part of a large statue of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramesses II. The lone and level sands stretch far away." Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Check out our free, expert-written sample analysis of the conflict poem, Ozymandias! Poem
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