This is no longer a piece of marble in the desert it was the statue of a great king. The shift is found when the speaker moves from describing the physical aspects of the statue, which shows that it is in pieces, to the significance of the statue which is found on the pedestal. Unfortunately, that power did not last for Ozymandias.Īs is true of most sonnets, there is a shift. After describing this shattered visage which was once sculpted with such care by its creator, the inscription on the pedestal shows that it was once a symbol of great power. Ozymandias once thought he would be remembered for his works which were so great they would last forever, but now, there is nothing left. The speaker uses words such as antique, vast, shattered, cold command, despair, nothing… remains, decay, and wreck to emphasize that this once-great King’s statue now lies broken in a wasteland. Ozymandias used to be a great and mighty king, but there is nothing left of his empire anymore. The traveler tells the speaker that the statue is in pieces in the sand in the middle of the desert. The speaker meets a traveler who has recently seen the great statue of the powerful pharaoh Ramses II, or Ozymandias. It could be the name of a place, or a person from a long time ago. 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.“Ozymandias” sounds exotic. 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.
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