Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley : An Analysis.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792-1822)
Ozymandias.
I MET
a Traveler 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 mocked them and the heart that fed:
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.
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 mocked them and the heart that fed:
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.
This poem is about the transient nature of
existence. More specifically, it concerns itself with the temporariness of
human existence in this world. It has as its central themes those of death,
mortality, and the utter meaninglessness of life. People come and go. The vast
majority of them never make a single scratch in history books let alone shape
the human condition and society in any substantial way. What is even more
humbling and enlightening is that even kings and rulers, who live as demi-gods
on Earth, are still doomed to extinction and obscurity.
The title of the poem is the Greek
translation of the name of one of Ancient Egypt’s most notorious and prominent
Pharaohs, Ramesses II. He is believed to have been the incumbent ruler of
Ancient Egypt at the time of the famous Exodus of the Jewish peoples from Egypt
to Palestine under the guidance and protection of the Prophet Moses. The
speaker starts the poem by introducing the narrator of the rest of what comes,
a voyager from an old country, viz. Egypt.
The traveler starts by talking about
the remnants of a gargantuan statue of the said Egyptian king that can be found
in the arid desert. The head of the statue is severed from the erect torsoless legs and lies near them on
the sand, partially submerged
beneath the sand. The facial expression of the head is one of haughty and contemptuous
pride and anger assumed frequently by people in positions of power (i.e. Kings,
princes, army generals, and CEO’s….etc.). The clarity of the sculpted face’s
expression and the realism that imbues the whole work are trust-worthy testaments
to the skill and competence of the sculptor who made it.
The traveler goes on to relate that on
the pedestal on which the legs of the antiquated statue still stand, there is written
an inscription, presumably dictated by the Pharaoh himself, that says, “My name is
OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings/ Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!”. We can
glean from the latter pronouncement the pessimism and the disillusionment of
the king with dreams of immortality and eternal glory and remembrance. In plain
English, he is saying that no matter what one achieves in this life, all of us
are doomed to extinction and obscurity. Mortality and decay are humanity’s
certain destiny, and material riches and power are not going to save anybody
from the inevitable snatcher, viz. Death. As the legendary Indian pacitifist
and activist Mahatma Ghandi said, “Whatever you do in life will be insignificant….”
Comments
Post a Comment