Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

OZY CONTEXT

* Shelley greatly influences by Romantic poetry
* nature and art > human power and transience of man
* against George III tyranny, comparing him to Ramesees II
* a time when Egypt was of great interest to Shelley’s audience

I met a traveller

* distance
* gives poem a unique universal quality → history repeating itself
* alternative interpretations of art

vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert

* sibilance → size and magnitude of Ozy’s statue
* wants passers by to feel small and insignificant to amplify his power
* impressive and powerful even when broken

sneer of cold command

* the things ozy wished to be remembered by are not present, but his cruelty and tyranny is → Shelley’s disdain towards George III
* arrogance and contemptuous nature of this leader → diminished by the temporary nature of power of man in contrast to nature

the hand that mocked them

* praising the sculptor, not Ozy, for realistically representing the intricate details → talent and value of art
* art endures and lasts unlike the power of humans
* alternatively, the artist ‘mocked’ the person they are depicting → the art is satirical

boundless and bare // lone and level sounds

* alliteration for emphasis
* plosive sounds replicate harsh nature of desert environment
* decaying and decrepit statue has ultimately been overpowered by nature
* ‘level’ crumbling of the hierarchy Ozy wanted to maintain to make himself superior → his power has been diminished and vanquished