Interpretation of ``Ozymandias``

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). On the pedestal of the statue,

there are these words, ‘"My name is

Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works,

ye Mighty, and despair!'"(Lines, 10-11).

However, all that surrounds the statue is a desert.

This poem is written to express to us that

possessions don't mean immortality, the king

who seemed to think that his kingdom would

remain under his statue's haughty gaze forever,

ironically teaches us this through his epitaph.

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and

despair!"(Line, 11) becomes good advice, though

in an opposite meaning than the king intended,

for it comes to mean that despite all the power

and might one acquires in the course of their life,

material possessions will not last forever. In the

end, the King's "works" are nothing, and the

lines inscribed upon his statue are a sermon to

those who read it.

This is a poem about art. Shelley used imagery

and a very impressive ironical way to write this

poem. Basically, the poem is divided into two

parts; the first eight lines are describing an

ancient decayed sculpture seen by a traveler. The

last six lines however talk about the words on the

pedestal and the desolate surroundings; he

contrasts the great sculpture with the surrounding

emptiness, which gave a stronger feeling about

the