Ozymandias Analysis

Shelley’s poem and depiction of Ozymandias could be a symbolic way of promoting his views against the monarchy, as he depicts Ozymandias as a tyrant with harsh descriptions such as “a sneer of cold command” and mocks him with the juxtaposition of “king of kings” and “colossal wreck”. However, instead of obviously putting forward his views and risking negative exposure, Shelley distances himself from the poem with intriguing use of multiple perspectives. The poem begins with “I met”, a first person introduction, but quickly switches to the traveller’s perspective as Shelley depicts what the traveller saw. In this way, he subtly puts across his socialist views without incriminating himself through symbolism and distancing himself from the narrative. In this way, the poem presents two powerful rulers, with Ozymandias symbolising King George.

The life of a dominant king who got lost in the things of the world, resulted in him losing focus on his destiny through power and time. It is a battle between man and the natural world he faced. Percy Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias, demonstrates that no matter the position one holds, in time, power can be arrogant and ruling, but cannot ultimately last for an eternity.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote this poem "Ozymandias" to express to us that possessions do not mean immortality. He used very strong imagery and irony to get his point across throughout the poem. In drawing these vivid and ironic pictures in our minds, Shelley was trying to explain that no one lives forever, and nor do their possessions. Shelley expresses this poem’s moral through a vivid and ironic picture. A shattered stone statue with only the legs and head remaining, standing in the desert, the face is proud and arrogant, "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read"(lines, 4-6).

Romanticism is composed of several different themes, all of which are definitive of what Romanticism entails; one of the most prevalent and important of these themes is that of alienation, whether it be from oneself or from the world. Several poets in the Romantic period wrote on this theme, but one who imparted the most meaning in the fewest amount of words is Percy Bysshe Shelley in “Ozymandias.” Shelley tackles the idea of separate existence from yourself in a unique way: as opposed to the way William Wordsworth would tell his audience what they needed to do in order to avoid alienation, Shelley presents to his audience an example of alienation causing a person to fade into past. In telling the story of Ozymandias, King of Kings, Shelley

The Odyssey is one of the oldest well known stories to date, and it is believed to be written around 2000 years ago. Its age is not the most fascinating fact though, the epic poem is comprised of 12,000 lines of death-defying, adventurous tales that are separated into different episodes. The Character traits of the might Odysseus, the structure of The Odyssey, the diction within the epic poem will be explained in this essay.

Shelley dwells little on the small details of Ozymandias' face, but by Ozymandias' frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, delivered in less than two lines, immediately carry to the reader a vision of a cold, callous, yet strong and determined leader who is commanding his people building his great vast statue hoping his power would be immortal. These concrete items are vital to the description, but are not as strong as what can not be seen. Shelley gives a nod to the talent of the sculptor, from whom Ozymandias received a mirror image of his personality, placed in stone because of his thinking to survive

In Ozymandias, the narrator speaks of an “antique land” that he’s travelled to and comes across a statue which is the King Ozymandias (who is the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.) The structure of the poem is written in an petrarchan

Throughout the epic poem Odysseus displays the quality arrogance through the way he acts when dealing with difficult situations harm his men. For instance,

Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries. I cannot respect someone who doesn’t see the difference.” (Spacey, Kevin.) Running in line with the writer Percy Bysshe Shelley in his piece “Ozymandias,” whereas he depicted an arrogant, long dead king ironically being prideful of his power, claiming it would never end. People never forget what you did, particularly if you’ve improved their lives, but money fades away as quickly as it was deposited into your account.

The Petrarchan sonnets “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton both consider a man’s legacy after death. However, both poems talk about a man’s legacy from very different perspective and come to their own conclusions. In “Ozymandias”, a traveler describes a broken statue of King Ozymandias (the Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II) and the barren ruins surrounding the statue. Ozymandias believes that his legacy will last forever. Through the sonnet, Shelley implies that legacies are transient and even the most powerful of men fall in the face of time. “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” is about the internal reflection of the speaker on his legacy as he worries whether or

In “Absent Friends,” Ozymandias (or Adrian Veidt), the world’s smartest man, is presented exclaiming “Given correct handling, none of the world’s problems are insurmountable. All it takes is a little intelligence.” (Moore II, 11, 1). From this statement, audiences may conclude that Ozymandias seeks to control the world, and in that they are correct. “Look On My Works, Ye Mighty…” introduces audiences to Ozymandias’ past, for his intelligence set him apart from others, and upon both of his parents’ passing, Adrian “... was determined to measure my success against his [Alexander the Great, Adrian’s idol]. Firstly, I gave away my inheritance to demonstrate the possibility of achieving anything starting from nothing… I wanted to match his accomplishment, bringing an age of illumination to the world.” (Moore XI, 8, 8-9). Through following the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Adrian continued his legacy by “Adopting Rameses the Second’s Greek name and Alexander’s free-booting style, I resolved to apply antiquity’s teachings to today’s world. Thus began my path to conquest… conquest not of men, but of the evils that beset them.” (Moore XI, 11,

A poem about a statue that has far outlived its boastful inscribers, albeit shattered in pieces. This discrepancy is seen between the lines 10-12, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings/ Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!/ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay…” Clearly, these people thought they were mighty and great, but instead, they are gone and all that remains are the shattered statues. When we die, we cannot take anything with us. It doesn’t matter how rich and important someone is in life; They are nothing but a memory when they are

 The poem "Ozymandias" tells a story about a traveler, who reveals his or her story to the narrator of the poem. The author of the poem is Percy Bysshe Shelley. He keeps the interest of the poem by using constant sounds and images that are clear and concise, by supplying mystery with words that have more than one meaning, and by using a spectrum of words that capture the interpreters attention.

Shelley’s version of “Ozymandias” pays particular attention to the details of what remains of Ramses’s statue. Shelley conveys to the reader that no matter how powerful a ruler may be, their influence will fade with time. The description of what Babylon looks like when the poem was written gives the reader a clear

In the poem Percy Bysshe Shelley “Ozymandias” there are several different sound devices portrayed. The author demonstrates use of rhyme and meter. In the beginning of the poem the author used rhyming words to give a description of the mans journey through the dessert, and informing that he found a statue. It states, " Two vast and trunk less legs of stone stand in the dessert." Although, the statue is destroyed and seems to be smashed, considering the 2 legs. Towards the end of the poem the author demonstrates irony, when it says," a colossal wreck, boundless and bare." It was once said to be mighty and powerful, but reveals there is nothing but sand on the desert. "Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things" references that the