conversation between traveller and poet in ozymandias
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The poet met a traveler from the ancient land of Egypt. He told the poet about Ozymandias, the third powerful Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt.
The traveler: While crossing a desert, I saw a colossal statue of the once mighty Pharaoh. The statue was broken. Its legs stood on a pedestal. The broken trunk and the face, half-sunken in the sand lay a few meters away from the legs.
The poet: Ozymandias once was such a powerful king. He won many wars. The people held him in great awe! See the power of time. Even his statues are broken with no one to look after them! Time is the most powerful King!
The traveler: Well said! The sculptor, who had made the statue, must have been a master craftsman! The frown, the wrinkled lip, and the sneer of the king he chiseled on the statue’s face, can be seen till the present time!
The poet: What else did you see? Was there any lines written near the statue?
The traveler: Of course there was a couplet written on the pedestal. It read:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
The poet: These lines mean, the king had a realization of the mortality of man. He knew the fact that even the mightiest of kings would one day die. All their power, victories, and wealth would prove futile.
The traveler: It is true. The king who got his statues made so fondly, with the wish to be remembered, lies wrecked, decaying in the vast desert as a symbol of man’s mortality!
The poet: Thanks for the valuable information.
The traveler: Thanks to you also for the time and your ideas.