Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

“I met a traveller from an antique land”

• The speaker first distances themselves in time and space from the wreck of Ozymandias

  • They hear about it from a traveller who seems to be not from this time

  • In 1818, the poet is writing about a dictator who could perhaps be Napoleon who was defeated in 1815

  • Percy is writing against the ruling class in Britain

  • The general who defeated Napoleon was the Duke of Wellington and he was soon to be appointed as Prime Minister- Britain is about to be ruled by the military and Shelley doesn’t believe is not suited and could become a dictator

• The distance is created because he is writing about his own country and he doesn’t want to appear unpatriotic

• “Antique land” implies that the lust for power and desire to be an absolute ruler is as old as history and he does this to contrast with modern day where we have the beginning of parliament- we should move to democracy

“Half sunk a shattered visages lies, whose frown,/And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”

• “wrinkled lip” implies that the statue conveys the idea that this power was already diminishing with the ages of the rule of Ozymandias

  • Even when Ozymandias was at his highest, the statue implies his power was slipping away showing the impermanence of power

  • Shelley is saying that even if we seem all powerful, our downfall is just a moment away- in 1810 Napoleon seemed unstoppable as he had conquered Europe, but by 1815, he had been defeated

• “sneer” shows us that dictators rule over their people with contempt and therefore we need a democratic society as people born into power have no intention to help those who they rule over

• alliteration of “cold command” sounds harsh and emphasises the coldness of his rule

  • “command” infers that Ozymandias was a militaristic threat, just like Napoleon and possibly the Duke of Wellington

“The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed”

• The poem is a sonnet which usually takes a turn after 8 lines- you have the octet and the sextet

  • On this eighth line (the end of the octet), the poem has a volta

• The hand that mocked them shows that Ozymandias feels his people are inferior because they are not as powerful as or that they allow him to rule so cruelly over them

• The “heart” can mean that Ozymandias actually did harbour feelings of care for his people- now this could be because he has a little humanity or that he needs his people so he can accumulate more power

  • This could also be ironic because his heart is shrivelled and unfeeling even when his people cry out for physical or perhaps emotional feeding

• This could also be referring to the sculptor who has survived Ozymandias’ reign

  • The statue could symbolise that art has far more power than the power that dictators have as they decide your legacy

  • “The hand” is the hand of the sculptor who is mocking Ozymandias by creating such an accurate sculptor, it reveals the “passions read” on his face- his people could see his as a cruel dictator but Ozymandias would be oblivious as he is drowning in his own ego or perhaps he just doesn’t care

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;/Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

• “King of kings” is a Biblical illusion to God

  • Ozymandias thought he was God-like and he had omnipotence but the irony is that there are no works to look upon except for his shattered visage showing the fragility of his rule

  • Though “Mighty” may refer to the All Mighty One, God which implies that Ozymandias even out himself on a higher pedestal than God

• Ozymandias wanted everyone who looked upon the statue to praise him, however there are no people to praise him and no city where the statue now belongs which shows the failure of his rule

• There is another level of irony as “my works” may be referring to the work of the artist

  • Although Ozymandias intended this statue to be a celebration of himself, it is now a celebration of the artist- Ozymandias is no longer mighty by

  • This also links back to the “wrinkled lip” quote as the artist was Ozymandias to despair when his rule eventually fails which is shown by the aging lip

“Of that colossal wreck”

• Greek reference to the statue of colossus

  • This was supposed to be on the harbour so people sailed through it’s legs but this seventh wonder of the world was presumably destroyed by Earthquakes and cannot be found

  • The statue itself isn’t a myth, just the fact is stood over the harbour when it would have been on land, but the remains stayed there for over 800 years as there are multiple references to it

• The readers would pick up on this and realise that symbols of power are destroyed over time but the art has stayed forever and still taught to people for thousands of years

  • This could imply the Shelley is much like Ozymandias in that he wants his art and legacy to live on forever

Form and structure

• The poem is a sonnet- a poem using 14 lines and 10 syllables per line