![]() (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Shelley’s friend the banker Horace Smith stayed with the poet and his wife Mary (author of Frankenstein) in the Christmas season of 1817. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias remains one of the best-crafted sonnets, as much for its vivid description as for the breadth and depth of its meaning. By analyzing this sonnet's diction, imagery, and themes, it will be easy to see why. The BBC explains why and embeds the trailer in the webpage. A painting of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), in Rome, by Joseph Severn. Published 1818, Percy Shelley's 'Ozymandias' centers on the ruins of Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II's statue. I think youll agree that Ozymandias is a little bit catchier than that at least, even though it is. The tv show Breaking Bad featured the poem "Ozymandias" in a trailer for the final season. The name Ozymandias is a Greek version of Ramses throne name, which is Usermaatre Stepenre. This website shows the statue of Ramses II (Ozymandias), the discovery of which may have inspired Shelley's poem. Everything is subject to death and decay. ![]() Shelley first published "Ozymandias" in The Examiner in 1818, under the name "Glirastes." This is a scan of the first edition printing. Ozymandias is first and foremost a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power, and in that sense the poem is Shelleys most outstanding political. Shelley has described the eternal teuth that nothing on earth is permanent. The Bodleian Library at Oxford University digitized and transcribed an early draft of "Ozymandias" from 1817 and made it available online. The British Library has a short introduction to "Ozymandias" that includes excerpts of potential sources for the poem, historical information about Ramses II (Ozymandias), as well as details about Shelley's radical politics. Ramesses II was one of the ancient worlds. The theme of the poem is that human power and greatness is transient, and while we all hope to leave our mark on the world in some way, nothing lasts forever-not even great empires.British Library's "Introduction to Ozymandias" The major theme behind Ozymandias is that all power is temporary, no matter how prideful or tyrannical a ruler is. The title is about the King, Ozymandias, and his great statue that lies in ruins in the middle of the desert. Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare. This is no longer a piece of marble in the desert it was the statue of a great king. My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair Nothing beside remains. ![]() The shift is found when the speaker moves from describing the physical aspects of the statue, which shows that it is in pieces, to the significance of the statue which is found on the pedestal. Unfortunately, that power did not last for Ozymandias.Īs is true of most sonnets, there is a shift. After describing this shattered visage which was once sculpted with such care by its creator, the inscription on the pedestal shows that it was once a symbol of great power. Ozymandias once thought he would be remembered for his works which were so great they would last forever, but now, there is nothing left. The speaker uses words such as antique, vast, shattered, cold command, despair, nothing… remains, decay, and wreck to emphasize that this once-great King’s statue now lies broken in a wasteland. Ozymandias used to be a great and mighty king, but there is nothing left of his empire anymore. The traveler tells the speaker that the statue is in pieces in the sand in the middle of the desert. The poem is thought to have been influenced. The speaker meets a traveler who has recently seen the great statue of the powerful pharaoh Ramses II, or Ozymandias. Ozymandias by Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was composed in 1817 as part of a sonnet competition with a friend, Horace Smith. Ozymandias Summary and Analysis Ozymandias Summary A traveler tells the poet that two huge stone legs stand in the desert. It could be the name of a place, or a person from a long time ago.
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