Ozymandias Best Quotes

• Distancing


  The poet/speaker distances themselves from the description of Ozymandias, both in time and space
• Shelley is writing about a dictator, most people take this to be Napoleon who was defeated in 1815
• Shelley is writing against the political ruling class in Britain


  The general who defeated Napoleon, Lord Wellington, is going to become Prime Minister
• Shelley creates distance between himself and the antique land he is describing to avoid appearing unpatriotic
• Shelley wants to show that the thirst for power and desire to be an absolute ruler is as old as history
• Ozymandias' statue


  • Wrinkled lip - conveys a sneer, associated with age
  • Sneer - suggests the ruler rules with contempt
  • Told command - harsh sounding, emphasises the ruler's emotionless, cold nature
• The hand that mocked them

  Can refer to Ozymandias mocking his people, or the sculptor mocking Ozymandias
• The ruler's heart


  Feeding them - ironic, as the ruler is cold-hearted and offers his people nothing
• The sculptor's art has survived Ozymandias, outlasting his political power
• Look on my works ye mighty and despair: 'Ironic - Ozymandias intended this to celebrate his power, but now it celebrates the artist's power'
• The reference to the Colossus of Rhodes is a double illusion - it suggests even mighty symbols of power get destroyed, but the Colossus itself was a myth that lived on