ozy quotes

• Communicates a sense of inevitability towards the breakdown of power, with judicious use of dramatic irony throughout the poem in order to convey this message.

  • "Look upon my works" encapsulates this sentiment as the statue is situated in a barren and featureless desert.
• The sense of irony is further reiterated in the second part of the line where it tells the "mighty" to "despair".
• The use of the imperative verb "despair" serves to show how even after death Ozymandias still sees himself as worthy of commanding people, but also to communicate the irony that is Ozymandias who would despair upon the realization that his works have not withstood the test of time.
• Shelley personifies the statue and creates a negative semantic field of vocabulary around power with the end goal of showing the reader the detrimental impact of a lust for power.

  • The semantic field of vocabulary uses words like: "wrinkled, shattered, frown, sunk, sneer".
• Shelley uses bathos (anti-climax) to criticize the fickle nature of power shown in the lines:

  • "look on my works, ye mighty, ye despair" to "nothing beside remains"
  • The stark contrast between the "works" of Ozymandias to the desolate desert serves to show how regardless of the magnitude of power one holds, particularly tyrannical power, it is not sempiternal (forever-lasting).
• Ozymandias' hubris (excessive pride) could be seen as the reason for his eventual downfall, with the only remainder of his lust for power being the "lifeless" statues left behind after his reign.
• The juxtaposition between manpower and nature's power serves to mock and ridicule the ignorantly indestructible mindset mankind possesses.
• "boundless and bare" and "lone and level":

  • The usage of alliteration serves to emphasize the vast and mighty extent of nature.
  • Whereas the human sees his power eroded and chipped away by time, nature enjoys transcendent power, serving only to show the futility of human power.
• The desert setting may be a reference to how sand is linked with time and the passage of it. The statue is literally covered up by the desert sand and Ozymandias' memory is figuratively covered up by the sands of time.