The story is over and Shelley's point is made before the reader realizes that he has been subjected to a moral lesson. The story is a characteristically Shelleyan one about tyranny and how time makes a mockery of the boastfulness of even the most powerful kings. The mention of a traveler is a promise of a story. Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Shelley's irregular sonnet on the fragments of a huge statue of an Egyptian pharaoh begins with a statement that arouses the interest of the reader at once: On the pedestal are inscribed the words "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Around the huge fragments stretches the empty desert. The face is distinguished by a frown and a sneer which the sculptor carved on the features. Near them on the sand lies a damaged stone head. The lone and level sands stretches far away.A traveler tells the poet that two huge stone legs stand in the desert. Round the decay of that colossal wreck: boundless, bare. The irony and utter fruitlessness of human glory lies in the ruggedness of the following lines:. The point that the earthly power is thoroughly ephemeral and vaunting tantamounting to meaningless fury – is tangibly manifested not only in its superficial meaning, but also in its tone and temper. The visual images used to fill in the detail of the scene gives concreteness to the poem. The form of the poem compliments the theme. The poem is out and out impersonal and is immune to the poet’s personal emotions. Shelly is poetically philosophising the vanity of human endeavour to achieve immortal glory and the annhiliative and corrosive influence of time. “The wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command.’ ‘the vast trunkless legs of stone’, ‘the shattered visage’ paints a vivid picture of the ruins in the desolate place. The motif of transience of earthly pomp, power, grandeur and glory is driven home through vibrant images. The name ‘Ozymandias’ itself suggests that time –the great destroyer, devours everything. The poet in a few succinct lines brings out the futility of man’s pursuance of worldly glory. The ravages of time spare none and treats everyone equally. The great irony is that a king so mighty is now reduced to two broken legs and a shattered visage that lies in the dust. It also warns the other brave and mighty to give up any hope of rivalling him. The most interesting thing was however, an inscription on the stone pedestal declaring the statue to be of the king Ozymandias (perhaps in reality it was that of King Rameses II of Egypt) and declaring him to be the king of kings. The puckered lips, the scornful eyes, the frowning brows symbolizes severity of character. The broken face bore the stamp of arrogance and contempt. The statue was trunkless – only a pair of legs poised in a commanding stance. At the foot of the stone pedestal was a stone face lying half sunk in the desert sand. Here the poet speaks of meeting a traveller from Egypt who had described to him a wrecked mammoth stone statue standing on a stone pedestal in the desolation of the desert (the desert of Thebes).It was the statue of a king. The sonnet is therefore Shakespearean where the poet challenges the master on his favourite ground. The theme of Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ is the ravages of time. The lone and level sands stretch far away.” 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
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