9/5/2023 0 Comments Irony in ozymandias![]() What was once his empire is now a backwater - an “antique land.” Everything that he worked for and accomplished has been forgotten - his efforts were pointless. Ozymandias was so powerful in his day, but now his statues have fallen and no one knows his name. In my opinion, the theme of this poem is that human life and human accomplishments are transient. There is just a lot of sand, as far as the eye can see. On the pedestal near the face, the traveler reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who might happen to pass by, basically, “Look around and see how awesome I am!” But there is no other evidence of his awesomeness in the vicinity of his giant, broken statue. ![]() It was obvious that the statue was of a man who sneered with contempt for those who were weaker than himself, yet fed his people because of something in his heart. The sculptor’s hands have mocked (copied) the expressions and the heart of the ruler which is depicted on the visage. The facial features have still survived which were stamped on the fragments of the statue in the desert. 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. He also tells that the sculptor has copied the expression in a wonderful way. He does not know who the man is but with the expression we can guess that he might be an absolute ruler. He tells that the visage has frown and wrinkled lip with a contemptuous smile. Now traveler gives a full description of the visage (face) lying in the sand. The head belonging to this statue lies on the sand half sunk nearby. The poem begins immediately with an encounter between the speaker and a traveler that comes from an “antique land.” He tells the speaker about a pair of stone legs (trunkless means without rest of the body) that are somehow still standing in the middle of the desert. 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, In Shelley's work, it described the visage sneer of cold command(Line, 5).Who said-“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone The last six lines however talk about the words on the pedestal and the desolate surroundings he contrasts the great sculpture with the surrounding emptiness, which gave a stronger feeling about the poem. Basically, the poem is divided into two parts the first eight lines are describing an ancient decayed sculpture seen by a traveler. Shelley used imagery and a very impressive ironical way to write this poem. In the end, the King's works are nothing, and the lines inscribed upon his statue are a sermon to those who read it. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!(Line, 11) becomes good advice, though in an opposite meaning than the king intended, for it comes to mean that despite all the power and might one acquires in the course of their life, material possessions will not last forever. This poem is written to express to us that possessions don't mean immortality, the king who seemed to think that his kingdom would remain under his statue's haughty gaze forever, ironically teaches us this through his epitaph. ![]() However, all that surrounds the statue is a desert. On the pedestal of the statue, there are these words, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"(Lines, 10-11). A shattered stone statue with only the legs and head remaining, standing in the desert, the face is proud and arrogant, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read(lines, 4-6). Shelley expresses this poem's moral through a vivid and ironic picture. In drawing these vivid and ironic pictures in our minds, Shelley was trying to explain that no one lives forever, and nor do their possessions. He used very strong imagery and irony to get his point across throughout the poem. Ozymandias to express to us that possessions do not mean immortality.
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