- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was one of the
major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the
finest lyric poets in the English language. The son of a Rich Tory Squire,
Percy Bysshe Shelley was educated at Eton and then sent to Oxford.
Shelley came under the influence of Revolutionary ideas of the English
philosopher , William Godwin, whose daughter, Mary Godwin he
ultimately married. In 1818, Shelley left for Italy; he drowned in the Bay
of Spezia in 1822.
I met a traveller from an antique land,
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,
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;
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.
The Poem ‘Ozymandias’ is a form of sonnet which
comprises of fourteen lines in which the first eight lines
are said to be octave that presents a conflict or a
dilemma, followed by a sestet or a set of next six lines
that offers some commentary upon the proposition
introduced in the octave.
Actually, Ozymandias is an ancient Greek
name for Ramses II (ruler) of Egypt. So, it
represents the ruler Ramses II. The ruler was
powerful and self-obsessed.
 I met a traveller from an antique land,
The poem begins with the meeting of the poet with the traveler (who came from an
antique i.e., ancient land ).
 Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies,…..
Now, the traveler starts his speech. He tells the poet (speaker) about
a pair of stone legs which rests in the middle of the sand. Those vast
(HUGE) legs are trunkless (without the upper body). Further, the
traveler tells him that there is also a visage (FACE) which is
partially buried in the sand and it also implies that the face is
detached from it’s body. Thus, this means that the whole statue is
shattered.
 …whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.
The traveler now gives the full description of the shattered visage and says that since a
‘frown’, a ‘wrinkled lip’ and a ‘sneer’ can be seen that means the visage isn’t completely
shatterd. Though, we don’t know who does the statue belong to but we can say that the statue
is upset as it’s frowning and sneering. May be he thinks that the sneering makes the statue
look more powerful and conveys the “cold command” of an absolute ruler.
NOW, the next line shifts our attention towards the sculptor who made the statue may be just
on the command of the ruler. The last line implies that the sculptor was pretty good because
he was able to understand and "read” (COPIED) – the facial features and "passions" of our
angry man very well. Though, the statue doesn’t literally speak but these expressions are
depicted so well that they tell how great the sculptor was.
 Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed
The poem now says that Although the passions (FACIAL FEATURES) which
are stamped on the statue (like lifeless things) still survive yet , people die.
Mocked has two meanings here – ‘made fun of’ and ‘Copied’. "Hand" is a
stand-in for the sculptor. So the sculptor both belittled and copied this man's
passions. “The heart that fed” refers to the heart that fed the passions of the
man that the statue represents.
 And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
The traveller now tells about the inscription at the foot of the statue which now reveals that the statue
represents OZYMANDIAS, also known as Ramses II. The inscription suggests that he is arrogant
because he refers himself as “king of kings”, brags about his works and is ambiguous. “Mighty to
despair” has two meanings - He says that their achievements will never equal his "works." On the other
hand, he might be telling the "mighty" to "despair" as a kind of warning and saying that nothing lasts
even the statue gets destroyed.
 Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
After telling about the inscription, the traveler again says about the statue and
the surrounding area. Now, we are again reminded that the head, the legs and the
pedestal - nothing lasts forever and the traveler says that it’s a colossal wreck.
The very size of the statue (COLOSSAL) emphasizes the scope of Ozymandias’s
ambitions. To complement the "decay" of the statue, the traveller describes a
desolate and barren desert that seems to go on forever with the sands stretching
far away. Also, he says that the statue is the only thing in the barren, flat desert
and the sands are lone i.e.; everything else which was there is destroyed.
1. ALLITERATION - Using multiple words with the same initial letter is called
alliteration. Several words in the lines start with the same letter; for example
"besides," "boundless," and "bare"; "remains" and "round"; "lone" and "level";
"sands" and "stretch.“
2. IRONY –
•
By looking at the Greek breakdown of Ozymandias -"Ozy “ comes from the
Greek 'ozium,' (to breath), or air. Mandias comes from the Greek 'mandate,'
(rule)," Ozymandias's i.e., Ruler of Air is where the irony begins. When one looks
upon what was written on the base of the statue and then to what has become of
that statue and all that surrounds it one sees how ironic that name really is.
•
In Ozymandias by Percy Shelley, there is a type of irony called "situational irony."
The situation is the story or poem, in this case. The irony is because Ozymandias
is described as powerful, strong, and the "King of Kings" in the beginning.
However, his wonderful statue eventually decays and it shows his mortal
vulnerability. The irony is that he begins as a grand ruler and ends as a decaying
statue of history.
It is a Situational irony, in which that what all left from the Ozymandias is only a
broken statue, where before his statue reflects fear but now reflects wonder
because of the ruined condition !
The poem suggests that artists have the ability to perceive the true nature of
other people in the present and not just in the past, with the benefit of
hindsight.
The poem shows the contrast between life and death. The fragments of the
statue are called "lifeless things," the sculptor is dead, and so is the statue's
subject. The "passions" though, still "survive."
DIVYA SHARMA
X- A
22.