ozymandias

• Ozymandias

  Percy Byshee Shelley

  SUMMARY

  • Explores the transience of human power, no matter how great

  • Stresses the everlasting power of nature

  • Statue is a metaphor for his power - once 'vast' & great, now a 'shatter'd', 'colossal wreck'

  • Those with power are deluded with the belief that they are supreme and immortal

  • A veiled criticism of the political ruling class in Britain (gov & monarchy)

  • Ultimately, the people in power are no more significant than the grains of sand they they will crumble into
• 'I met a traveller from an antique land'

  • 'Traveller' 'antique land' - distancing himself both in space and time - indirect

  • England heavily repressed at time - published 1818, just one year after gov suspended Habeas Corpus - could imprison anyone contradicting monarchy & gov
• 'And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command'

  • Repetition of harsh 'c' - overwhelming sense of oppression, scornfully boasting

  • 'Wrinkled' - age - power diminishing
• 'And on the pedestal these words appear:

  My name is Ozymandias, king of kings'

  • Literal pedestal represents emotional pedestal that the pharaoh was put on / put himself on

  • 11 syllables - longer than the usual 10, breaks - shows excessive arrogance

  • 'My name' - spondee (two stressed syllables in the foot) - unusual, reflects overwhelming power

  • 'King of kings' - superlative
• 'Nothing beside remains'

  • Previous sentence enjambes over 9 lines, whereas the next only lasts 3 words - shows how his power diminished, juxtaposed with excessive power in the previous life
• 'The lone and level sands stretch far away'

  • 'level' - our physical being is ultimately equal

  • From an atheistic pov there is no afterlife, once you die your remnants just 'stretches far away'
• CONTEXT

  • Romantics shared the view that nature endures and outlives kings

  • Ardent atheist - educated at Eton & Oxford but expelled for writing in favour of atheism

  • King George III reigning at time, involved in many militaristic conflicts. Percy hated monarchy, wanted it overthrown

  • Ozymandias (also known as Ramesses) known for military acts to protect Egypt & extend its borders - parallel with King George III.
• • He was the epitome of power - pharaoh of the New Kingdom, a period which marked the peak of the Egyptian Empire's territorial success

  • Hubris (extreme arrogance) - where you believe you age even more powerful than the gods. Ozymandias believed he was the greatest of all time

  • 'Mandias' comes from the Greek 'mandate' meaning 'to rule' - even the title holds power & control
• STRUCTURE

  • Doesn't follow any typical sonnet structures - breaking conventions, radical poem like the topic

  • A mixture of the Petrarchan (first 8 lines/ octave poses a problem) & Shakespearean sonnet form (ABAB rhyme scheme

  • Just as the Petrarchan structure gives way to the Shakespearean, and the Shakespearean to a new sonnet, all power gives way to new power