From the second line on the reader is painted a vivid picture with words such as vast and trunkless.half sunk.shattered own and wrinkled lip.sneer of cold command.this is a pretty damning description of Ozymandias (Greek name for an Egyptian pharaoh called Rameses II, 1300BCE) and reflects Shelley's own thoughts on those who crave and wield power. Shelley's evocative language creates some very powerful images. It is this person's narrative that describes the huge statue in the sands of the desert, a former monument of a great leader, now in pieces and forgotten. The reader is effectively listening in to a conversation between two people, one recently returned from a journey through an ancient country. This was highly unusual for a sonnet at the time and reflects the poet's innovative thinking. Shelley uses the first person pronoun "I" to begin his sonnet then cleverly switches the focus to a third person, a traveler, whose words are contained in the remaining thirteen lines. 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 Overall, this sonnet paints a picture of an egotistical character who thought himself without rival but who was cruel to his people.
Shelley's poem encapsulates metaphorically the outcome of such tyrannical wielding of power - no leader, King, despot, dictator or ruler can overcome time. 'Ozymandias' is a political poem at heart, written at a time when Napoleon's domination of Europe was coming to an end and another empire, that of Great Britain's, was about to take over. A sensitive nature poet, he wrote the oft-quoted ' To a Skylark' and 'The Flower That Smiles Today', but he could pen political verse too, notably 'England' in 1819. Its widespread use today probably derives from Shelley’s 1817 sonnet, entitled Ozymandias, in which the poet describes “the degradation of this colossal, boundless, empty shipwreck”.His wide-ranging poetry lives on. A tyrant, a dictator, a megalomaniac someone or something huge, a colossus. We get the distinct impression that Ozymandias was possessed by fear and a ruthless power-obsessed leader, based on his description of “pursed, wrinkled lips” and “smiling like a cold commando.” The sculptor who made the statue clearly saw it as a man. Today he is known for his exceptionally long reign and impressive building projects, including the Great Temple at Abu Simbel.
It is a form of the Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, who is much more famous today than he was two hundred years ago when Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote his poem about him. This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper. and was famous for its state spirit, architecture, military leadership, administrative skills, and construction.Īnswer: Ozymandias was an Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II, who vainly believed that he was strong and that his empire would last forever. It tells of a ruined statue of Ozymandias (the Greek name for Ramses II of Egypt, who reigned in the 13th century bce ), on which is inscribed, Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair Around the statue, The lone and level sands stretch far away. He was an Egyptian pharaoh between 12 BC. Percy Bysse Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” was written about the Egyptian king Ramses 11 – Ozymandias was his Greek name. He led several military expeditions and extended the Egyptian empire from Syria in the east to Nubia (northern Sudan) in the south. Pharaoh, also known as Ramses the Great or Ozymandias, was the third of the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt and ruled for 66 years, from 1279 BC. What was Shelley’s purpose when he wrote Ozymandias?.How did Ozymandias want to go down in history?.Who was the 10th grader from Ozymandia?.
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