Ozymandias – Percy Bysshe Shelley

The poet

Ozymandias is a sonnet written by the Romantic poet (remember

Romanticism from Grade 11), Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Shelley was born in August of 1792 and died in 1822 at the age of
29 in a boating accident. As a Romantic poet, he was concerned
with (among other things):
• Imagination
• Nature and the natural world
• Emotions (love, sorrow, etc.)
• The current state of the world

Shelley’s poetry covers various topics but always has at its core these ideas and themes.

Considered a radical, in his writing and politics, Shelley was critical of the status quo and the
society he witnessed. As a result, some of his poems are quite political in nature and can be
read as social critique of his time. Of course, if the critique is clear and understandable, these
poems could still be used to critique similar problems or individuals today. Ozymandias is one
such poem.

Ozymandias

In the first reading, first simply look at the poem on the page. You already know that it is a
sonnet, so you’re expecting to see a roughly square block of text with a recognisable rhyme
scheme when you look at the ends of the lines. You are expecting it to be 14 lines long.

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
So far, Ozymandias fulfils all the expected requirements of a sonnet.

By the way, this equation can be used when assessing an unseen poem too:

square shape + clear rhyme scheme = PROBABLY A SONNET

Then check how many lines it contains, the rhythm, the presence of a volta, etc. to make a
final decision.

As you read Ozymandias for the first time, look out for simple story information: plot, setting,
speaker (characters). Ask yourself these questions:

Who is speaking?
What happens in the poem?
Where/when does it take place?
What pictures/images form in my mind as I read the poem?

Glossary:

antique – in this context it simply means belonging to an ancient time/era (not a collectible
piece of furniture or art!)
trunkless – having no body (without a trunk)
visage – a face
Ozymandias – the Greek name of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II
despair – lose all hope

After the first reading, how would you answer the above questions?

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
Who is speaking? This one is not straightforward because there are actually TWO speakers
in this poem. Did you spot that? We start with “I” but then it quickly changes to the direct
speech of the traveller.

What happens in the poem? Well, someone meets a traveller who then tells a story about
how they were traveling through the desert and saw a big, old, broken statue. That’s it.

Where/when does it take place? It’s very hard to say as the poem doesn’t give us direct
clues. This probably means that it is not about on a specific time or place but is rather making
a broader comment on society and human nature. We know that the traveler went to a desert
and we know that Ozymandias was an Egyptian ruler so that part of the story most likely takes
place in Egypt, but remember that this is a poem about someone hearing that story. We don’t
know exactly where they are when the story is told (presumably not in Egypt). We do know
that it is long after the rule of Ozymandias (1279-1213 BCE).

What pictures/images form in my mind as I read the poem? This is an answer that only
you can give. What stood out for you? When I first read this poem I was struck by the image
of the vast desert and the shattered remains of the statue. Maybe you were caught by the
description of the face of the statue. Perhaps you imagined the words engraved on the
pedestal of the statue.

Some context

Remember that Shelley is considered radical in his political beliefs. He was critical of the way
things were and, as with many Romantics, found inspiration in classical history and culture (for
Europeans, that was mostly looking back to the Ancient Greeks).

So maybe this poem is not just a pleasant tale of a chance encounter with a traveller who told
a wild story about seeing something in the desert that not many people had seen. Maybe this
poem is really about the coming and going of empires and rulers. Perhaps this poem is actually
about how time washes over all the achievements of humankind, and nobody escapes the
ravages of time. Possibly this poem is a reminder that power in the present does not mean
much in the grand scheme of history. This poem may be a bit of a middle finger to the people
in power at the time, with Shelley saying: You’ll be forgotten too and all you have built will
come crashing down one day.

And, if the empires and power that we create and accumulate will not last, what will last
according to Shelley? Does he give a clue to that in this poem?

Read it again with that in mind. Look out for diction (word choices) that have strong
connotations (positive or negative).

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
Breaking down Ozymandias

FORM & STRUCTURE:

Ozymandias is a sonnet. That means:

• 14 lines
• Rhyme scheme
• Iambic Pentameter

Here is the rhythm on display. Five poetic feet in each line (two syllables –
unstressed/stressed). It doesn’t read as smoothly as Sonnet 104, for example, but it holds the
conventional rhythm of the sonnet. Look at line 1 below. In order to maintain the 10-syllable
rhythm, one must read the word ‘traveller’ as one would say it in conversation rather than as
one would read it on the page. In the line below I have removed some letters (an apostrophe
indicating omission replaces them) to show how it fits. You have to do it for ‘Ozymandias’ in
line 10, as well. You might initially read the name as O – zy – man – di -as (five syllables) but
that would break the regular rhythm. Shelley expects you to read the name like this: O – zy –
man -dyas (four syllables).

The poem meets certain expectations of the sonnet form; HOWEVER, it also breaks some
conventions.

Remember how we said that Shelley was quite radical? He wasn’t only radical in his political
views. He pushed the boundaries in his poetic forms too. Therefore, this sonnet is neither a
Petrarchan/Italian nor a Shakespearean/Elizabethan sonnet. Shelley kind of does his own
thing with the form while keeping enough of the recognisable characteristics to ensure that it
is still a sonnet.

The rhyme scheme is rather unusual. It doesn’t follow the regular Petrarchan or Elizabethan
rhyme scheme. It isn’t even a slight variation of those (something that is often found). Shelley
went far off plan in constructing this sonnet and created a rhyme scheme that was quite unique.

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
However, the sonnet is still constructed along the Petrarchan sonnet format of octave and
sestet. In other words, there is distinction between the first eight lines of the poem and the final
six. It may not be clearly indicated by a volta but there is still a distinction. It is in the sestet
that the words of Ozymandias appear (via what is written on the pedestal) and the central
message of the poem is driven home (nothing of the might of Ozymandias remains except a
broken statue in a forsaken locale – time does not treat powerful rulers kindly).

ababacdcedefef – the first quatrain seems quite conventional. The next quatrain, however,
begins with another ‘a’ rhyme. In a conventional sonnet we would be moving onto a new rhyme
starting a cdcd pattern. Not in Ozymadias. The second quatrain goes acdc. We then begin a
new rhyme pattern which includes a ‘d’ rhyme in line 10 again. This constant circling back to
rhymes that a regular sonnet reader would expect to have finished is interesting. Line 5 goes
back to an ‘a’ rhyme. Line 10 goes back to a ‘d’ rhyme. Considering the content of the poem,
this may be a furthering of the idea that the past remains in some form (an out of place rhyme)
even when we have moved on to something new (a new rhyme pattern). These rhymes are
leftovers from the past – still there but not influential or crucial. A bit like the statue in the desert
- strong in its place in history, but just a broken memory in the present.

Analysis of Ozymandias

1 I met a traveller from an antique land,

2 Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
This poem begins with a “once upon a time” feeling. The speaker states that he met
someone mysterious and exotic (‘from an antique land’) and that this person told him
a story (‘Who said…’). This lends the poem a familiar atmosphere – we have all listened
to stories being told. And it sets up the unusual situation of the speaker of the poem

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
deferring to a second speaker and giving the rest of the poem to them to narrate. The
diction in lines 1-2 add to the overall atmosphere as well as the central message of the
poem. The choice of ‘antique’ to describe the place the second speaker is from creates
an air of mystery and intrigue. Considering the Romantic poets’ interest in lessons from
past eras, this is in keeping with the idea that the past (particularly ancient Greece)
holds wisdom and knowledge for the present. The words ‘vast and trunkless’, when
describing the statue, give a sense of the impressive size of the statue and also its
broken state. The legs alone are described as ‘vast’. Imagine if the whole statue was
standing! It would be enormous. ‘Trunkless’ means without a body. In other words, the
statue is broken. But also, the “body” of something refers to its substance. Think of the
body of an essay or a body of work. This statue is big and impressive but, ultimately,
without much substance as it currently stands.

3 Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

4 Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown,
5 And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,
6 Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
7 Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The fact that the statue is identified as standing ‘in the desert’ furthers the notion that
this is something exotic – Shelley was writing for a British audience. The only desert
with which the British audience was familiar existed in faraway places. ‘Half sunk’,
‘shattered’. These descriptions strengthen the idea that this statue has been broken
and time has not been kind to it. The speaker goes on to describe the expression on
the face of the broken face of the statue. In conflict with the rather humble state it finds
itself in (‘shattered’, ‘half sunk’), the face shows a stern, proud, powerful expression –
‘frown’, ‘wrinkled lip’, ‘sneer of cold command’. When you see that face you say to
yourself: Well, that was a powerful figure. But the fact that the statue is lying broken on
the desert floor means that you don’t hold the kind of fear or respect that the figure
might have commanded in life. Line 6 gives us a hint as to what Shelley respects in this
story. He mentions another character in the poem: the sculptor. The skilled artist who
created this impressive statue is held in high regard by Shelley. He makes sure that this
artist is mentioned and that his work is praised. Line 6 tells us that the artist did a very
good job of capturing the essence of the subject in his sculpture. The sculptor ‘well
those passions read’ and they still ‘survive’ in the expression of the statue. Put another
way, the sculptor could understand the inner workings of the figure portrayed in the
statue. Perhaps Shelley is saying that, ultimately, art is the only thing that remains after
time has washed away the works of powerful figures. Only the true artist can create
something that can truly show the spirit of the figure once history has forgotten their
works. The artist has ‘stamped’ onto a ‘lifeless thing’ (stone) something that elevates it
to a piece of art. This notion is also in keeping with the Romantic poets who believed
that art was a better lens for viewing the world than the cold, rational, scientific
approach favoured in the age Enlightenment and the first Industrial Revolution.
Whatever the intent, these lines BOTH show us the power of the figure captured in the
sculpture (we still haven’t identified this figure) AND indicate his fallen, broken state
(both literally and figuratively).

8 The hand that mock’d them, and the heart that fed;
One definition of the word ‘mock’ is “to imitate someone or something closely”
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mock). It also means to ridicule
something or someone. I think that both of those meanings work in this context. The
hand belongs to the sculptor mentioned in line 6. He ‘mocked’ the ruler by creating a
close and accurate imitation in the sculpture. He saw through the exterior to the ‘heart

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
that fed’ the desires and deeds of the ruler and put that on display in the sculpture
through his artistic skill. The accuracy of his work could be viewed as a ridiculing of
the leader too. What remains is not the once-powerful ruler but the sneering, frowning,
power-hungry ruler who now lies broken in the desert.

9 And on the pedestal, these words appear:

10 ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
11 Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Then the speaker identifies the figure immortalised in stone by telling us what it said
on the pedestal (the base on which the statue once stood). ‘My name is Ozymandias,
King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Ozymandias was the Greek
name of the Egyptian ruler Ramesses II. Remember the Romantic poets’ obsession with
Ancient Greece. Remember also, that the classically educated British audience would
most likely be more familiar with the name Ozymandias than the name Ramesses II. In
the words on the pedestal we are introduced to a third speaker: Ozymandias himself.
The possessive adjective ‘my’ indicates that these are the words of Ozymandias
himself. It is no accident that Shelley has chosen the possessive adjective to appear
twice. Ozymandias is depicted as a power-hungry ruler who desired to possess many
things if not everything. He also refers to himself as ‘King of Kings’ – a bold claim to
make. This is an indication that he believed he was the most powerful king of all time.
The second line on the pedestal is a challenge: ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and
despair!’ Ozymandias is inviting all other powerful rulers to look on his
accomplishments and possessions and, by doing so, lose all hope that they too can be
as powerful – DESPAIR! If this were an enormous statue situated in an empire protected
by vast armies and containing much wealth it would be an impressive statement. But it
isn’t. It is a broken statue lying in a desert where very few people see it. It is a statement
that even the most powerful are brought low by the passage of time and the marching
on of history. Ozymandias? Who the heck is that?

12 Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

13 Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
14 The lone and level sands stretch far away.
In the last three lines, we return to the voice of the traveller. They now relate what they
see around the statue. Nothing. There is nothing else there. ‘Look upon my works’?
What works? There is nothing to see except sand and desert. Notice the diction ‘decay’,
‘wreck’, ‘bare’. These words drive home the point: the once mighty Ozymandias has
been reduced to almost nothing – a simple memory contained in a broken statue. The
‘lone and level’ sands bring a notion of the popular image of the ‘sands of time’. Time
passes, history moves on, memories fade, empires crumble, power changes hands and
there is nothing one can do about it. Shelley makes use of strong alliteration in these
final lines: ‘boundless and bare’, ‘lone and level’, ‘sands stretch’.

Diction:

Look out for the words that set up the central conflict in the poem: power vs time. Some words
remind us of the power that Ozymandias once held (‘vast’, ‘command’) and others point out
the fallen state of the central figure in the present (‘trunkless’, ‘half sunk’, ‘shattered’, etc.)
There are more words describing the fallen state than there are describing the power leading
to the overwhelming sense that the poem is really about the crumbling of power, not the
attaining of it. The language is relatively simple and tells a direct and obvious story.

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
Poetic Devices:

Shelley uses strong alliteration at various points of the poem (e.g. ‘stone – stand – sand –
sunk’ lines 3-4 & ‘cold command’ line 5 & ‘boundless and bare’ line 13). Alliteration has a
unifying effect on a poem, binding the words together in a similar way that end rhyme does.
The repetition of the explosive ‘b’ sounds in ‘boundless and bare’ also add a certain weight to
the words being read. These words, in particular, are describing exactly how nothing remains
of Ozymandias’s glory around the statue.

This poem makes us of enjambment. Only lines 11 and 14 end with end punctuation. All other
lines spill over and force the reader to keep moving forward in the story that is being presented.
This may also be a method of reinforcing the central message that time marches ever forward
and there is nothing we can do about it.

The words on the pedestal are rendered ironic as they proclaim greatness and power yet the
situation in which they are found is described with the words ‘decay’, ‘wreck’, ‘bare’. The
situation is the exact opposite of the words on the pedestal. However, the message on the
pedestal works as a warning to the mighty. ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Ozymandias meant that they must feel puny and powerless when they view his glory. But, in
fact, this becomes a warning that they must not become arrogant as their power too will one
day fade as did Ozymandias’s.

Imagery:

The central image is of the broken statue lying in the desert. That is all that gets any descriptive
mention in the poem beside the first line which refers to the traveller from an ‘antique land’.
Look for the juxtaposition of size and power with decay and ruin.

Contextual questions for Ozymandias

Try these questions on Sonnet 104. The poetry questions in a Paper 1 exam will most
likely require you to draw a comparison between two or more poems but we will focus
on each poem individually in these practice questions.

1.1 Explain how the poet uses the sonnet structure (octave and sestet) to share his
thoughts with the reader. (3)

This question is asking you to identify what is expressed in the octave (first
eight lines) and what is expressed in the sestet (last six lines). AND it is
asking you to link that to the ‘poet’s thoughts’. In other words, the message
of the poem. Don’t just describe the story of the poem. Link the story in the
octave and the sestet to the message.

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.
1.2 What is the poet’s attitude toward the sculptor (line 6)? Motivate your answer. (2)

Make sure you have identified whom you are supposed to be speaking about.
You are NOT speaking about the ‘I’ in the poem. You are NOT speaking about
the traveller. You are NOT speaking about Ozymandias. The sculptor who
created the statue is the focus of this question. Motivate your answer by
pointing out something specific from the poem.

1.3 Discuss how the use of alliteration in lines 13-14 contributes to the mood of the
poem. (2)

Mood is the overall feeling of the poem. First identify that. Then look at how
the repetition of initial consonant sounds in the final two lines adds to the
creation of that mood. Remember to explain fully. Make sure you are using
words like ‘… by…’ to make sure that you are fully answering the question.
For example, The alliteration of [word 1 and word 2] adds to the mood of
[identify mood] BY [explain how it adds to the mood].

1.4 ‘Round the decay…stretch far away.’ (lines 12-14)

Discuss the irony in these lines. (3)

Irony occurs when the opposite of expectation is delivered. In what way/s

do/does the words in lines 12-14 show an opposite effect to what has just
come before?

© Material designed by Curro Digital Learning. No part of it can be used without the express written permission of the author.