Ozymandias BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ' short summary and analysis

 Ozymandias 

BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

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.”

 Short summary and analysis 

* The title “Ozymandias” refers to an alternate name of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II.

* In the poem, Shelley describes a crumbling statue of Ozymandias as a way to portray the transience of political power and to praise art's ability to preserve the past.

* The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. 

* The traveler recollects what he saw there in the desert: a large mangled statue. The statue had two massive legs but its upper body was missing. The second part of the statue was strewn across the sand – it consisted of a huge face.

* The face of the statue was grinning in displeasure and held a sarcastic smile, and wrinkled lines were still evident on the face. 

* The sculptor has had done a fantastic job of capturing emotions from the King’s face to the lifeless statue. The king had brutal expressions and the sculptor mocked the same on the stone.

* As the poem develops the reader get to know that, Just below the huge legs, on the platform were written the following words

 – "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!", By these words the king was introducing himself as Ozymandias – the most powerful king in the world.

 * He (Ozymandias)  was telling that the  other kings of the world to bow down before his huge statue. But the entire statue had been broken, withered with the sun and rain, only the message engraved was intact.

* The lying statue was seen lying in the desert – opposite to standing tall. However, it’s not seen as something standing tall in the desert. 

* With time nothing remains same and forever. Things come and go – so did the king Ozymandias and his statue.

* The poem also describes  how the parts of the statue stand on the sand and also depicts the surroundings. 

* Collectively, the desert and the worn-out statue hint at the central idea of the sonnet, the futility of human actions. It also taps on the themes of the impermanence of power, fate, and the inevitability of rulers’ fall.

* The lines of the poem  are really powerful. The traveler almost seems to be mocking the ruler.

* Besides, Shelley’s diction here is important. He uses words such as “decay” and “bare” to show just how powerless this once-mighty pharaoh has become. 

* There is absolutely nothing left. The leader, much like his land, and much like the broken statue depicting him, has fallen.

* It is in these lines that the theme of the poem emerges: all leaders will eventually pass, and all great civilizations will eventually turn into dust.

Themes 

* The impermanence of a ruler’s glory and his legacy.

The most important theme is the impermanence of a ruler’s glory and his legacy. It is an implicit hint at the idea of futility. No matter how hard a man tries to rivet his name, at some point, people will forget him.

 For example, Ozymandias tried to become greater than God. He declared himself the “King of Kings.” If we look at history, every ambitious ruler declared them, more or less, by the same title. 

In their pursuit of greatness, they forgot about their very nature: every living thing must die. Besides, the sonnet also utilizes the themes of vainglory, the power of art, the decline of power, etc.

* The major theme behind "Ozymandias" is that all power is temporary, no matter how prideful or tyrannical a ruler is. Ramesses II was one of the ancient world's most powerful rulers. 

* Power of nature 

Ozymandias a powerful king of Egypt was proud of his glory and achievements. He desired to immortalize his name and got a statue built. But nothing could stand against time and the powerful elements of nature. The broken statue symbolizes the destruction caused by time and the sands lone boundless and bare symbolize the power of the elements.