Ozymandias Analysis

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Percy Shelley describes the speaker

being told by a traveler about an

archaic and weathered statue of King

Ozymandias that sits by its lonesome in

the middle of a desert. The story is told

about the once glorious and fearful

statue that is now diminished down to a

pile of rubble that is now concealed

from civilization in the sand from which

it was created from. King Ozymandias

tried to preserve his power and glory by

creating an abiding statue of himself,

but now it is just a pile of rubble that

few people know about and have little

concern about. It represents that after

death everyone is the same, only objects

to remember our glory is left behind.

Also it represents the history of

mankind by saying that no matter how

vast our civilization grows, we will

inevitably all die and be forgotten

about. There is no denying the fact that

everything will fall at one point in time

and the remnants of mankind’s greatest

empires will be overlooked and

forgotten about.

The only thing that is left

behind from all great men and

civilizations is not the people

themselves, but just the objects they

created or had created for them just so

the future peoples can remember their

greatest accomplishments. Shelley says

in his poem, “a shattered visage lies”

which describes the only thing left of

Ozymandias, a disintegrating statue that

lies in the desert surrounded by

emptiness. It is not only the statue that

is shattered, but yet the reputation and

glory of the Ozymandias and his

empire. The great king would be beyond

outraged and disappointed if he could

see how his only lasting impression on

the new world is holding up.

In a criticising essay by Jennifer

Bussey, she states that “Ozyamandias’s

legacy is actually not in his hands at all,

but solely in the hands of the sculptor”

which proclaims that everyone’s legacy

and reputation is