Ozymandias

By: Percy Shelly

Edward L. Cheever II

[06/16/16]

Pride and Arrogance, or Pointless Power.

Time

In “Ozymandias,” the narrator tells of a meeting between himself and a traveller from an ancient land. The traveller describes a scene in the desert, where a broken statue lies in the sand. The statue’s face appears to have been quite arrogant and cruel.

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There was a pedestal nearby which names the figure “Ozymandias,” who was apparently once a mighty king.

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Now, however, all that remains of this king’s legacy is his broken statue. All that is left is endless sand.

Key Diction

• There are words that indicate the passage of time, or progression of events, like, “antique,” “half-sunk,” “yet survive,” “remains,” “stretch.”
• There are many words of destruction, like “trunkless,” “sunk,” “shattered,” “lifeless,” “nothing… remains,” “decay,” “colossal wreck.”
• The statue and the man it depicts are described with words like “vast,” “frown,” “sneer,” “cold command,” “mocked,” “heart that fed,” “colossal.”
• There are words that indicate emptiness and loneliness, “desert,” “nothing,” boundless,” “bare,” “lone,” “far away.”

Imagery

• The core image is that of a broken and forgotten statue.
• The statue is an image of a cold, arrogant...

• The main subject of the poem is not the traveller or the narrator, but Ozymandias, as indicated by the title. The message will be centered on him and what has happened to him.
• The statue is huge, even in its destroyed state, and the words on his pedestal clearly challenges other world rulers. Ozymandias was clearly a powerful leader at one point, and a fairly unpleasant one at that, as indicated by the diction choices and figurative language surrounding him.
• Now, however, Ozymandias is powerless and nothing remains except for his broken statue. He is also forgotten. The narrator has no prior knowledge of this king, and he only learns of it from the traveller, who himself seems to have learned about him by stumbling upon the statue.
• Shelly uses lots of references to time to...

[Continued...]

• ... and even cruel king.

Figurative Language

• The “hand that mocked” is a personification of Ozymandias’s hand, which “mocks” people - presumably his subjects or the other kings and rulers from the inscription.
• Hands are also often symbols for actions, which could indicate how Ozymandias treated people through his actions.
• The “heart that fed” is a personification of his heart, making it seem to feed on something. What that thing is might indicate something about Ozy’s personality. Perhaps he fed on power, or on controlling others, as other lines seems to suggest. Perhaps he simply fed on his people!

Tone

• The tone feels very ironic due to the words on the pedestal. They must have been one intended to be a challenge, or a threat to other kings, declaring Ozymandias’ supremacy, but now it’s a different kind of warning. This is key to the theme, I think!

• ...show us what has happened to Ozy, here. Time has slain his legacy. His statue is a symbol of power, and what has happened to that statue symbolizes what happens to power over time.
• Percy Shelly uses the words on the pedestal, and the irony it creates, to serve as a warning to everyone who reads it. This, the destruction of Ozymandias, is the final result of all our efforts and toils. It practically shouts the theme, “Everybody who thinks they’re hot stuff, look at me! I was hot stuff, but now I’m a forgotten wreck! You’ll get the same fate!”
• Shelly’s message is especially aimed at those in power, however, and people who strive for greatness at the cost of goodness. Ozymandias was great, but mean, and yet all his cruelty did not earn him a legacy to remember.

Time will destroy even the greatest and most powerful figures and deeds of history and leave them broken and forgotten.

• Pride and arrogance are foolish because they will eventually all become worthless through the passage of time.
• We should not be so concerned with the efforts and achievements of this life because even the greatest things ever done or accomplished will be forgotten in time.