Question

Describe the facial expression of the broken statue in the poem ‘Ozymandias’.

Answer 1

the facial expression is of proud, and vanity the King was arrogant and had the expression of contempt

Answer 2

Ozymandias’s “half-sunk . . . shattered visage” carries a haughty expression of the greatest disdain: his lips are frowning in a “sneer,” and they are described as “wrinkled,” an interesting image to consider upon an ancient stone statue. The statue is very lifelike, and the expression found there is convincing, for “its sculptor well those passions read.” And yet all the overconfidence and pompousness in the world could be written on the face of that “King of Kings"; it would make no difference. His kingdom has fallen to ruins; even the mightiest cannot withstand the test of time. And even around the broken ruins of Ozymandias’s figure itself, “the lone and level sands stretch far away.” No other trace of his “Wreck” is left.

The face of Ozymandias, and his egotistical claims, feed into the theme of the poem—all things fade. Great empires, sturdy cities, art, life—it is all leveled in the end, and any measure of greatness will come toppling down eventually.  All it takes is time. And yet, even when his vast “Works” have crumbled into nonexistence, Ozymandias remains smug; powerless and broken, he yields little to the realities of the desert around him.