Question

Write the summary of the poem 'Ozymandias'.
Only appropriate answers !

Answer 1

The speaker describes a meeting with someone who has traveled to a place where ancient civilizations once existed. We know from the title that he’s talking about Egypt. The traveler told the speaker a story about an old, fragmented statue in the middle of the desert. The statue is broken apart, but you can still make out the face of a person. The face looks stern and powerful, like a ruler. The sculptor did a good job at expressing the ruler’s personality. The ruler was a wicked guy, but he took care of his people.

On the pedestal near the face, the traveler reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who might happen to pass by, basically, “Look around and see how awesome I am!” But there is no other evidence of his awesomeness in the vicinity of his giant, broken statue. There is just a lot of sand, as far as the eye can see. The traveler ends his story.

Answer 2

This is a sonnet (a poem of fourteen lines – the first eight form an octave and the next six form a sestet).

It is about a ruined statue which has become so with the passage of time and here, we can correlate it with Shakespeare’s sonnet ‘Not marble, nor the gilded monuments.

The title ‘Ozymandias’ is the throne name of Egyptian king Ramesses. The poem talks about his foolish desire to immortalize himself by erecting a statue.

The poet meets a person who has been to an ancient place in the deserts, Egypt. He tells the poet about the ruined statue of the great powerful king, Ozymandias. It had been destroyed with the passage of time.

There were only the two legs which stood on a platform and the upper part of the body was nowhere to be seen. The face of the statue lay buried in the sand. He praises the talent of the artist as the minutest expressions and wrinkles had been perfectly copied by him.

The engraving on the platform reflects the pride and arrogance of Ozymandias. As the statue is now destroyed, the engraving is a mockery at the pride and ego of the king.

Today, after the passage of so many centuries, finally there is no trace of the king’s accomplishment in the vast stretch of the desert.