Ozymandias By Percy ShelleyAnalysisOzymandias, by P Shelley, is an excellent poetic example of the romantic period because it tells about natures dominion over man and how man-made monuments fall prey even to the smallest things like sand. The statue in the poem stands for man's attempt to conquer nature and have a lasting impression on the world long after death. In the poem, there is a tablet written by a Pharaoh , that says: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" But nature is a force that proves man's true inability to make any true changes to the earth, no matter how hard we try or how big we build our monuments. "Nothing besides remains."
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Ozymandias I MET a Traveler from an antique land,
Who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart. 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! No thing beside remains. Round the decay Of that Colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. Source: this site |