Ozymandius
A friendly sonnet-writing competition between two 19th century poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Horace Smith, led to two Ozymandius poems that continue to be talked about and analyzed to this day. Each sonnet was published by Leigh Hunt early in 1818 in consecutive issues of his monthly journal, The Examiner (Rumens, 2010). Even though the sonnet written by Smith has taken a back seat to Shelley in scholarly study, both poems explore the opulence of ancient history and the inevitable consequences of time.
Inspired by recent discoveries in the Near East, Shelley and Smith were motivated by the words of historian Diodorus Siculus who claimed the inscription on the statue of Rameses II read, “King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work” (Mikics, 2010). The motivation for these ekphrastic poems was to create a piece of artwork that would withstand the inevitable passing of time. Unlike the crumbling boasting monuments of Ancient Egypt whose intent was to memorialize their rule, their own literary words would be a piece of poetic art that would forever be remembered in European literature.
While the differences outweigh the similarities between these two poems, there is a uniting theme expressed by both Shelley and Smith. Each author uses the same subject, tells the same story and makes the same moral point of the arrogance of human authority and the inevitable decline of all leaders. Every great leader wants to be immortalized and remembered. Time is the ceaseless enemy of this great wish of mortal men. It never stops, takes pause or shows tire as it breaks down the most triumphant of mortal monuments. Both poems use the expression of time to unite the idea that all power is fleeting as exampled by the only remains of the statue’s leg.
The variations in diction between Shelley and Smith allows for a vast difference of perspective. Smith, an author of historical novels and financial
Inspired by recent discoveries in the Near East, Shelley and Smith were motivated by the words of historian Diodorus Siculus who claimed the inscription on the statue of Rameses II read, “King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work” (Mikics, 2010). The motivation for these ekphrastic poems was to create a piece of artwork that would withstand the inevitable passing of time. Unlike the crumbling boasting monuments of Ancient Egypt whose intent was to memorialize their rule, their own literary words would be a piece of poetic art that would forever be remembered in European literature.
While the differences outweigh the similarities between these two poems, there is a uniting theme expressed by both Shelley and Smith. Each author uses the same subject, tells the same story and makes the same moral point of the arrogance of human authority and the inevitable decline of all leaders. Every great leader wants to be immortalized and remembered. Time is the ceaseless enemy of this great wish of mortal men. It never stops, takes pause or shows tire as it breaks down the most triumphant of mortal monuments. Both poems use the expression of time to unite the idea that all power is fleeting as exampled by the only remains of the statue’s leg.
The variations in diction between Shelley and Smith allows for a vast difference of perspective. Smith, an author of historical novels and financial
Cited: Dursin, M. (2012, November 9). Wizards of "Ozymandias". Retrieved from Edge of Story Web site: http://edgeofstory.com/tag/horace-smith/ Mikics, D. (2010). Poem Guide: Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Ozymandias”. Retrieved from Poetry Foundation Web site: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/238972 Rumens, C. (2010, January 28). The Romantic poets: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Retrieved from The Guardian Web site: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jan/28/percy-bysshe-shelley-poetry Shelley, P. B. (1818). Ozymandias. The Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/ Skool Interactive Learning. (n.d.). P.B. Shelley: Ozymandias. Retrieved July 12, 2014, from Skool.ie Web site: http://www.skoool.ie/examcentre_sc.asp?id=393 Smith, H. (1818). On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below. The Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.rc.umd.edu/sites/default/RCOldSite/www/rchs/reader/smith.html