Question

what expression of ozymandias have been captured by the sculptor?

Answer 1

We are told in the poem that the face of the sculpture is marked by a "frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command." In isolation this description suggests that the king or, more precisely, the pharaoh (Shelley was reputedly writing about Rameses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BCE), is contemptuous and mocking (implied by "sneer"), disapproving (implied by "frown"), and perhaps emotionally distant (implied by "cold"). We...