What Does Ozymandias Represent

Some say that the achievements that you accomplish in life will be remembered forever, however, in the sonnet “Ozymandias”, even the legacy of a powerful king is proven otherwise by the test of time. In the poem, the narrator describes a tourist who encountered a collapsed statue found in the middle of a desert. A plaque remains as well dedicated to Ozymandias, also known as Ramses II of Egypt, proclaiming that all who gaze upon his works must despair. However, there were no accomplishments that seemed to be present and the collapsed statue acts as the only reminder to Ozymandias’s memory. The author, Percy Shelley, was a very significant poet, notable for his views on English Romanticism. Shelley was born in Horsham, England in 1792. By the
According to “Ozymandias”, the statue “whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” create a negative, or mocking impression of Ozymandias (Shelley line 4-5). A sneer is often associated with a mischievous, mocking, or rueful behavior. Facial expressions such as a frown or wrinkled lips are also related to certain tones such as disgust or shame. With all of these features being included on Ozymandias’s statue, he is seen as rude and arrogant by constantly looking down upon all who view him. The frown and cold command also do not add to the melody of the poem because they do not rhyme with any other verses. For example, the end word of the verse “Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone” (Shelley line 2) does not have a corresponding syllable sound to another verse; “Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,” (Shelley line 4). Shelley wrote the ballad with a rhyme scheme of a traditional Shakespearean sonnet so line 2 and 4 of the poem should have a rhyming melody that they have in
In “Ozymandias”, Shelley writes “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay” (Shelley line 11-12). Initially, the reader is told by the plaque, which acts as a voice of Ozymandias, to fear him because of the mighty works that he has created. These works vary from large constructions to works of art which have existed long ago from ancient Egypt. In contrast, the reader is shown the reality of the present; a huge desert that stretches far is what only remains of Ozymandias’s power. The poem features more examples of juxtaposition as the statue’s “sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things” (Shelley line 6-7). The emotions and passions of Ozymandias, understood by the sculptor, lives on in the works of his legacy such as the statue. However, the lone, inanimate statue is all that is left of those feelings and they have faded away from the present. Nothing else is left remind the world of the character Ozymandias was and what kind of ruler he was