Key Quotes

• The poem opens in the first person as the speaker tells of a “traveller” he has met. The use of the adjective “antique” suggests the land he is visiting is rich with history.
• The “frown” and “wrinkled”, the “sneer of cold command” suggests that the leader’s proud, arrogant and stern face is still “stamped” on the broken stone, even though he and the sculptor are both long dead.
• The king’s proud boast, “Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!” has been ironically disproved.
• “Nothing beside remains”, suggests that Ozymandias’ works have crumbled, his civilisation is gone and has been turned to dust by the power of history and time.
• “The lone and level sands stretch far away,” suggests how the broken statue is a monument to man’s hubris. The poem is a statement about insignificance of human beings to the passage of time.