Ozymandias

• Summary

  • The tale of a statue in the desert that is now decrepit and dilapidated but once was a statue of the great "Ozymandias". The statue is in the middle of the barren desert, with nothing around it for miles but boasts of it's great empire, might and power. The statue serves as a stark reminder to all that power is ephemeral and that all empires must fall. It criticises those who lust for power by portraying the memory of a once mighty king as now encapsulated by a broken monument
• CONTEXT

  • Shelley was a radical Romantic poet. They believed in the power of nature to inspire but also to invoke fear. He was also anti-monarchy and a pacifist. "Ozymandias" can be seen as aimed at those in power, seeking to expose those who desire greatness and empires by showing the fickle nature of these things
  • Ozymandias' statue had just been discovered at the time of writing, making it a topical piece of work. King George III may be seen as being the inspiration of Ozymandias due to the excessive military conflicts and tyranny during his reign
• "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair" Part 2

  • The stark contrast between Ozymandias' "works" to the desolate desert serves to show how regardless of the magnitude of power one holds, it is not sempiternal
  • Imperative verb shows how even after his death he still sees himself as worthy of commanding people, but also to communicate the irony that it is Ozymandias who would "despair" upon the realisation that his works have no withstood the test of time
• "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair" Part 1

  • Ozymandias communicates a sense of inevitability towards the breakdown of power, with judicious use of dramatic irony. This encapsulates this sentiment as the statue is in a barren desert.
  • Uses bathos to criticise the fickle nature of power
• Shelley personifies the statue and creates a negative semantic field using words like "wrinkled", "shattered", "frown", "sunk" and "sneer" around power with the end goal of showing the reader the detrimental impact of lust for power
• "visage"

  • Presents the irony that the king had so much pride and vanity in his appearance which instead captured his cruelty and indifference
  • Has been broken down and battered by time and nature. May be suggesting that the image of power he exuded during his reign was little more than a cover for his authority's true vulnerability
  • Links to Shelley's atheist and anti-monarchist views as he derides all those that rely on their power being centred on a "visage" or a divine right to power
• Ozymandias' hubris could be seen as the reason for his eventual downfall, with the only reminder of his lust for power being the "lifeless" statue left behind after his reign
• "sneer of cold commands"

  • Personification may be suggesting that despite all of Ozymandias' opulence and might, the only sentiments that survive from his reign are damaging and destructive
  • Berates those in power for their beliefs that power is eternal
  • Human notions of pride and omnipotence are pale compared to nature's transcendence - exacerbating his ego that he believed his tyrannical power could withstand nature, when in reality it was never destined to last
  • Shows how an intense amount of power is synonymous with an intense amount of corruption
• Shelley contrasts his portrayal of human power, particularly tyrannical power, as insignificant and temporary with his portrayal of nature's power as endless and trascendent. The juxtaposition between manpower and nature's power serves to mock and ridicule the ignorant and indestructible mindset mankind possesses
• "boundless and bare" "lone and level" Part 1

  • Alliteration emphasises the vast and mighty extent of nature. Whereas humans see their power eroded and chipped away by time, nature enjoys transcendent power, serving only to show the futility of human power
  • Echoes the sentiment that everything has come from the earth and as such must return to it, Ozymandias' power has returned to the baren and endless desert from where it derived from
• "boundless and bare" "lone and level" Part 2

  • Nature's everlasting power is contrasted within the poem with the fickleness and short-life of human power. This is evident by the fact that the desert remains when all else beside it has fallen
  • The desert setting may be a reference to how sand is linked with time and the passage of it. The statue is covered by the sand and Ozymandias' memory is figuratively covered by the sands of time
• The poem is set as a sonnet, traditionally a way of writing love poems. By making the statue the focus of the poem, Shelley could be making it an object of love and respect. This contrasts with the content of the poem, which ridicules the statue. It allows Shelley to simultaneously mock Ozymandias' lack of love and respect and to ridicule his hubris that resulted in this infatuation and love with barbaric power. The poem uses a blend of Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet, perhaps as a way of showing how even old ideas, such as everlasting power, can be changed and evolved
• Iambic pentameter used as a motif of control and to demonstrate the frightful regularity of the oppression by those in power on those they rule. Perhaps it suggests that there is no way to break free - they are constrained by the oppressive tyrant that rules them
• Shelley uses enjambment freely throughout the poem, in lines such as "antique land/Who said" in order to contrast with the tight one stanza that the poem is structured in. This may be Shelley commenting on the illusion of freedom and the human desire to be free despite the constraints placed on them by oppressive rulers
• Shelley uses end stops more frequently towards the second half of the poem, for instance "despair!", "bare." and "away." It could symbolise how human power is transient and semi-permanent - it is easily curtailed by nature's omnipotence
• Shelley subverts the sonnet from by disrupting the iambic pentameter and not using a traditional rhyme scheme
• Shelley juxtaposes the boastful inscription and the broken statue to create a sense of irony. The inscription boasts of Ozymandias' great "works", but now the statue is all that's left of them, showing that his power was ultimately temporary
• By ending the poem with the image of the "Lone and level sands" surrounding the colossal wreck" of Ozymandias's statue, Shelley highlights Ozymandias' insignificance. The contrast between the vast, timeless desert and the broken statue highlights how minor and temporary Ozymandias' power was compared to the power of nature
• "Half sunk" highlights how much the desert has already consumed the statue, and the phrase "shatter'd visage" emphasises the statue's destruction - one of the most important features of the statue has been heavily damaged
• There are 3 voices in the poem: The speaker, the traveller and Ozymandias. This emphasises Ozymandias's fall from power, as the speaker only hears of him through a second-hand source. However, the inclusion of Ozymandias's voice in the form of his inscription, centuries after he spoke the words, suggests that his legacy continues to have some power and significance.
• The statue is in ruins, showing Ozymandias's loss of significance. The traveller's mocking tone highlights how Ozymandias doesn't command the respect he once did. However, Ozymandias must still have some significance as his state can still be seen and appreciated, even if it's in ruins. Additionally, the fact that Ozymandias is still being discussed highlights how he still holds some power.