OZYMANDIAS
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English
Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social
views.
Born: Born: August 4, 1792,
Horsham, United Kingdom
Died: July 8, 1822, Lerici, Italy
Stanza no:1 I met a
traveler………………the heart that fed.
Reference: These lines have been taken from
the sonnet “Ozymandias” written by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Context: This poem deals with the feelings
of pride and superiority of King Ozymandias. He was cruel. Yet he faced a
tragic fate. His statue shows the devastation and hopelessness. It is revealing
the truth that pride hath a fall. When a man gets power, he becomes proud,
merciless and cruel. He enjoys the luxuries of life and forgets his end. The
poet has conveyed the idea that the feelings of superiority in a man are only
self-deception. The reality is death.
Explanation: In these lines, the poet tells
that he met a traveler from an old and deserted land. The traveler told him
that he saw two big legs standing in the desert. The two huge legs, which were
made of stone, were standing without the upper part of the body. The other part
of the statue lay nearby. The arms and the face were broken and it was in a
miserable condition. It was half sunk into the sand. The sand and dust covered
the body. Yet the signs of displeasure and expressions of ruthlessness and
pride could be noticed on the face of the sculpture.
The poet says that the skillful hands of the sculptor had left the
accurate expression of the man into his sculptor. The expression of aggression,
power, and pride was even obvious on the lifeless body of the King. The poet
has tried to explain that immorality has a permanent impression on our body as
well as on our soul. So, it cannot be erased even we pass away.
Stanza no; 2 And on the pedestal……………..stretch far away.
Explanation: In these lines, the poet has
described what we can call the message of the poem. As the traveler continues
to describe what he saw in the desert, he says that there were some texts
written in the base of the statue. It read as
My name is
Ozymandias, king of kings: look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
It tells that the name of the king was Ozymandias. He was the most
powerful king. He ordered the kings to see his statue and feel belittled. But
the tragedy is that now nothing remains except a lifeless statue of the king.
The huge statue itself tells about the glory of the king. But now this huge and
splendid statue has fallen the victim of nature. The broken pieces of the
statue are being vanished in the sand. The sand is stretching far away and the
statue of King Ozymandias is getting a thick layer of sand on it. It cannot be
seen anywhere.
