Even the highest among us are not immune to the ravages of time we all are bound to erode into “lone and level sands” (line 14). The statue of Ozymandias (i.e., Ramesses II of ancient Egypt) boasts of the pharaoh’s grand works, all of which now lie in ruin. The lone and level sands stretch far away.Īt first glance, this looks like a straightforward account of hubris. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Granted, the way this essay is headed, that pressure may have been misplaced. As such, while I let the poem stew in my mind, I felt some pressure to do the work justice, to contribute something of value to the conversation surrounding it. People who haven’t read a poem in decades remember this one from high school. Of all the poem’s I’ve given the close reading treatment, “Ozymandias” is by the far the most famous. Second, and more importantly, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the task. First, having just covered a sonnet by a Romantic-era poet when I got the suggestion, I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself right out of the gate as someone stuck in that style and time period. I’ve put off diving into this particular poem for two reasons.
#Ozymandias poem analysis serial
This month’s poem analysis is a first for the blog: a reader suggestion! In the comments section for my post on Charlotte Smith’s “Written in the Church Yard at Middleton in Sussex” (which you can read here), Elizabeth of Serial Outlet recommended that I take a look at an English class staple: Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” About four months later, and here we are!
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