Ozymandias Essay

In the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley the speaker, Percy him self or somebody else explains a meeting with someone who has traveled to place where ancient civilization once existed. From the title “Ozymandias” tell the location of the poem, which is Egypt. The traveler told the speaker about a place the traveler visit during his travels. He told the speaker about a place in the desert, in the middle of the desert lay a fragmented of a broken apart statue but the resemble of a man face can still made out. The face of the statue look stern and powerful, like a ruler. The sculptor did a good job at articulating the ruler’s character. The poem describes the man to be a wicked ruler but good to his people. On the pedestal near the face,
the traveler reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who walked by to look at how amazing he is. To look at the kingdom he builds but there was no other evidence of this tremendous achievement expects the broken statue. There was no kingdom to be seen or any other thing for that matter, for there was only sand as far as the eyes could see and then the travelers end his story. The poem start with “I met a traveller from an antique land.” An encounter between the speaker and a traveler that come from an “antique land.” It didn’t specifically about the traveler being from an “antique land.” Or just a tourist returned from his trip. It also gave a hint about what the place the traveler going to talk about “antique” means something really old maybe the traveler been touring in Greece, Rome, or ancient Egypt. The second line through fourth line “Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone. Stand in the desert…. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies,” here the traveler begins his speech. He tells the speaker about a pair of stone legs that are somehow still standing in the middle of the desert. The legs are huge “vast” and “trunkless” mean without a torso so it’s a pair of legs with no body. “a shattered visage” means face; a face implies a head, so it mean the head belonging to the sculpture is buried in the sand near the legs. The fourth lines through the sixth, the traveler now gives a fuller description of the face lying in the sand “whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read” the traveler could made out some of the detail on the statue face, “frown” a “wrinkled lip” and a “sneer.” it implied the statue was not a friendly and “cold command” implied the statue guys is an absolute commander who shouldn’t be take light to. After that the poem take the reader attention to the sculptor, it the poem “Tell that is sculptor well those passions read” meaning the sculptor did a good job catching the detail of the commander and his personality, so good the statue speck to the traveler. Lines seven and eight “Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heat that fed”. The poem now mention more about the “passions” of the face depicted on the statue, the “passions” still survive because they are “stamped on these lifeless things.” The “lifeless things” are the fragments of the statue in the desert. The word “stamped” refer the artistic process by which the sculptor inscribed the “frown” and “sneer” on the statue’s face it also could be referring to the commander power. The phrase “ The heart that fed” may refer to the heart that fed or nourished the passion of the man that the statue represents. The passions not only survive but also outlived both the sculptor “the hand that mocked” and the heart of the man depicted by the statue. There seem to be a contrast between life and death. The fragments of the statue called “lifeless things” with the sculptor are dead and as well as the commander but the “passions” for the artist and commander still survive through the statue. In lines nine through eleven “And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” the traveler tell the speaker about an inscription at the foot of statue which finally reveals whom the statue represents and the name is “Ozymandias” which was the title of the poem.
Ozymandias was one of several Greek names for Ramses II of Egypt. The inscription suggests that Ozymandias is arrogant; he called himself the “king of kings.” Ozymandias also brags about his “works” maybe he’s referring to some of his famous temples he constructed. In the inscription the phrase “look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” he talking about how “Mighty” his works or his kingdom are and be “despair1” because no matter how hard people try to be like him they won’t achieve
it. In the last three lines, lines twelve through fourteen “Nothing beside remains: round the decay. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.” After the traveler recites the inscription, he resumes his description of the statue and the surrounding area he reminded the speaker again that “nothing” remains besides the head, legs, and the pedestal; to pull the speaker from Ozymandias’ and his powerful and arrogant word. The word “colossal wreck” could refer to the shattered face and legs or it could refer to Ozymandias ambition as well because he thinks he is the “king of king” the poem end with “The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Could refer to how in the end there was nothing left of Ozymandias work and there were only sand as far as eyes can see. There was an episode in Breaking Bad title Ozymandias that fit the poem very well. In the poem “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, he seems to appeals to the Wes Wind to infuse him with a new spirit or a new power; maybe to help him or give him strength to do something with politic.
In the poem Shelley wrote about the West Wind as a powerful being, he back it up by listing a series of things the wind has done to illustrate it power. Placing seeds in the earth, driving away the autumn leaves, stirring up the seas and oceans, and bringing thunderstorms and cyclical “death” of the natural world. Like his poem Ozymandias, Shelley mentions death in his poem to contract life. In the poem, he asked the West Wind to give him power or life but he mentions death when illustrating the West Wind power, like Ozymandias poem he wrote in
1818.