explanation of ozymandias
Answers
Let's start with it. Keep your notebook ready beside you as you might want to take down some notes.
Okay, so here we start our story.
For a little backstory, let me tell you who Ozymandias is. Our pal Ozy (not to be confused with Ozzy Osborne) is Ramses II of Egypt. Ozy is his Greek name.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them, and the heart that fed;
Okay, so let's say I am the poet, I met a guy travelling from a land that is steeped in history. He tells me what he had seen on his journey. He describes me a scene. Two gigantic legs with no upper body stand in the middle of the desert. Near two "trunkless legs" lies a shattered head, perhaps from the same sculpture. The face has an expression of disdain on it. The wrinkled lips and the cold face show that the man was rather cold-hearted and hostile. The sculptor who created this masterpiece was well acquainted with the nature of the model. He did a great job and got the face remarkably correct, right down to the details of the disdain and sternness. These features are embossed on the stone and survive till today.
The "Hand that mocked" refers to the sculptor.
To be noted, here mocked has two meaning.
1: Created; The sculptor created the statue, the vast legs and the impressive head.
2: Well, you know, make fun of; The sculptor makes fun of the man by carving every last detail of his unpleasant personality into the statue which was meant to be the reminder of the man till eternity. Remember that picture of yours your friend posted on social media in which you were looking weird? It was kinda like that.
"The heart that fed" refers to the man, whose passions of being sculpted and honoured are being realized.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Okay, I would stop you here for a moment because this part is crucial. So, the legs are on a pedestal and on the pedestal, there is something inscribed. Here, we realize whose dam big legs are those. So, it's Ozymandias. He calls himself "King of Kings" and tells other rulers to look at his work and feel ashamed of their own, sorta like:
"Darn it! Ozy is so rad, I can never be like him. "
Now, let's get to the phrase "king of kings".
Here, Ozy seems to boast about himself saying that he is better than other rulers.
But, wait a minute, isn't "king of kings" a name for Jesus? Is Percy comparing Ozy's kingdom to Jesus'? Well if yes, then duh, Jesus' kingdom is better because it is eternal while Ozy's kingdom is earthly. But but but, Percy was an atheist so this can't be it.
And the same goes for "ye Mighty".
Most believe he is referring to other great rulers while some religious people still think God. But let me remind you, Percy got kicked out of Oxford for writing a paper about why everyone should adopt atheism.
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of the colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sand stretch far away.
Okay, so now the traveller says that there is nothing there except for the broken statue. It is a ruin. It once used to be a "colossal" monument but now is nothing but a "colossal wreck" whom the time seems to have forgotten. The works that Ozy boasted about are nowhere to be seen. The statue is surrounded by nothing but sand. Till the horizon, all one can see is sand.
IRONY (now we're getting to it!)
So, in lines 10-11, Ozymandias boasts about his creations. According to history, he had erected a lot of temples, monuments, statues etc and that his kingdom was a prosperous one. He always believed that he would be remembered till the end of time. Well, wrong. No one remembers him (except Historians, Archeologists and Literature students). Time has taken away his identity.
Message? Its a deep one.
"Ozymandias" is a famous sonnet by the British Romantic poet Percy Shelley. The poem is best known for its eleventh line, "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" and for the ironic juxtaposition of this statement and the ruins with which it is paired.
The poem begins with Shelley's narrator recalling that he met "a traveller from an ancient land." This traveller then narrates the remainder of the poem. The first part of the traveler's story reads,
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. (lines 2-8)
These lines describe a ruin that the traveller came upon in the desert. Its size and material are first described as "vast and trunkless legs of stone," but the next lines concentrate on the disheveled appearance of the statue. It is "half sunk," its face "shattered." The facial expression is described as one of "cold command," and the traveller interprets this as accurate when he says that the sculptor "well those passions read." This means that the artist understood the personality and temperament of the subject as exhibited by the statue's "visage." A contrast is employed when Shelley has the traveller say that "those passions" "yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things." This begins the juxtaposition that will continue and prove so important to the poem's central idea. Here, the contrast is between the lifelike accuracy of the face and the fact that it is sculpted from stone. The eighth line implies that the portrait is not exactly flattering, as "the hand" of the sculptor has "mocked" the ruler's features, while his "heart," or temperament, "fed" the expression or inspired it.
The remaining section of the poem introduces the ironic inscription on the statue's pedestal and elaborates upon the contrast between the powerful expression on the face of the statue and its current state of ruin. The lines read,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
The statue's subject is revealed here, "Ozymandias, King of Kings." The latter qualifier subtly refers to Ozymandias's inflated concept of his own power and position. He then tells anyone who would view his monument to "look on [his] works . . . and despair." He believes that his accomplishments will continue to impress everyone to come upon them in the future; he believes that his legacy will strike fear into the hearts of all passersby. He is wrong, of course, as the traveller points out that this inscription and its accompanying sculpture are surrounded by "decay" and are now nothing but a "colossal wreck." The pairing of the words "boundless and bare" is another example of juxtaposition, which amplifies the lack of meaning that remains in this ruin. The "boundless" and "lone and level sands" go on as far as the eye can see, while Ozymandias's power has no reach and no range. This is the central irony of the poem: the king's perception of his own power is now mocked by its ruined state amidst the desert landscape.