The poem "Ozymandias" describes a traveler's encounter with the remains of a statue in the desert. The traveler sees two enormous stone legs standing in the desert, with a shattered face lying nearby. The inscription on the pedestal reads "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my work, ye Mighty, and despair!" However, nothing else remains of the king's once-mighty rule. Time has destroyed all evidence of Ozymandias' power and grandeur, leaving only endless, barren sands stretching as far as the eye can see. The poem mocks human arrogance and the fleeting nature of power and glory.

1. Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley

2. ‘Ozymandias’, a sonnet , written in
1817, is a remarkable for its simplicity
and suggestiveness.
Shelley describes the dilapidated state
of a statue that proves the veracity of
Shakespeare’s view.

3.  Unlike Shelley had followed stylistically
the traditional structure of Italian
sonnet featuring an opening octave- a
set of eight lines that present a conflict
or dilemma, followed by a sestet- a set
of six lines that offers a commentary
upon the situation introduced.

4. PERCYBYSHEESHELLEY
About the Poet

5. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was
eldest son of Timothy Shelley, a
wealthy landowner.
He was born on August 4, 1792, at
Field Place near Horsham , Sussex.
As a child he was highly imaginative,
active and mischievous.

6. He received his education first at
Eton and then at Oxford.
Shelley’s genius as a poet was
essentially lyrical.
Prometheus Unbound, The Cenci,
Ode to Liberty, Epipsychidion,
Adonis, To a Skylark and Ode to the
West Wind are other famous works
of Shelley.

8. I met an traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies

9. Words and Phrases
• Antique : ancient
• Vast : huge
• Trunkless : without the upper body
• Visage : face

10. Paraphrase of Stanza 1
The poet met an traveller who came from
an ancient land. The traveller told him
that he saw two trunkless huge legs of
stone standing in the desert. Near those
legs, he saw a half sunk and broken face
lying on the sand.

11. whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
Tell that its sculpture well those passion read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless thing
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed

12. Words and Phrases
• Sculpture : the one who had made the statue
• Stamped : carved
• Sneer : facial expression of scorn or hostility
• Read : studied or understood the facial
expression and planned it in sculpture
• Cold Command : feeling less mastery
• The Heart that Fed : feelings that
Ozymandias face displayed.

13. Paraphrase of Stanza2
The sculptor has captured the king’s
scornful, inhospitable and cold
expression with a great precision. The
king, his kingdom, power and power, all
had passed but that dispassionated
expression was still retained in this work
of art. This expression highlights the
sculptor’s skill and mocked at the king’s
lack of foresight.

14. And on pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my work, ye Mighty, and despair ! ”
Nothing besides remain. Round the decay
Of those colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

15. Words and Phrases
• Ye : you
• Colossal : huge
• Boundless : endless
• Level : flat
• Pedestal : base
• Decay : gradual destruction

16. Paraphrase of Stanza 2
The traveller further informed that
inscription on pedestal described
arrogant Ozymandia’s claim of being the
mightiest of mighty. He challenged the
powerful kings to look at his powers,
position and status and feel dejected at
discovering they were no match to this
‘king of kings’.

17. Apart from the broken remains of the
massive statue’ there was not even a
faint trace of anything to prove
Ozymandia’s greatness. Time had wiped
out all that this arrogant king was proud
of. Right now as far as the eyes can see
there is an expansive stretch of sand
spanning the entire desert in its solitude.

19. The poem brings out the ephemerality of the
statues and sculptures that the rich and mighty
get carved out to immortalize themselves. The
power and money of these arrogant people
however fails to perpetuate their fame and name.
The time wipes out their names from the face of
the earth and their statues are torn down. The
pride and arrogance of these so called ‘mighty’ is
mocked at by the shattered fragments of their
statues that lie neglected and half buried here
and there in desert.

20. The poem brings out the transience of
man and his foolish urge to immortalize
his name. Man is too feeble to withstand
the ravages of time. Hence wisdom lies in
leading a modest and unpretentious life
and later on withdrawing from the world
with sense of resignation.

21. Literary Devices Used
Alliteration
( It is the repetition of constant sounds )
Example:
sneer of cold command
survive, stamped
boundless and bare

22. Some Extra Questions and
Answers
From
Class X Literature Reader
Poem 5
Ozymandias

23. Bring out the irony of the poem ?
Ozymandias had built a colossal statue of himself to
intimidate and humiliate his fellow kings and to impress
them with his glorious splendour. His words challenged
the mighty kings. However, time devoured all his
grandeur and magnificence and the very icon of his
majestic glory lay half buried in the sand. Today his
ostentatious challenge to all his fellow kings sounds so
hollow and the inscription on the pedestal with the
trunkless legs ironically mocks at his ludicrous claim to
power and might. It is foolish on the part of Man that his
‘glorious achievement’ would survive the onslaught of
time !!!

24. What impression of Ozymandias is
formed after reading this sonnet ?
Ozymandias was the man who was drunk with
power, pelf and authority. He had nothing but
contempt for others. He claimed himself to be ‘king
of kings’. He was mighty proud of his great work and
wonderful achievements. He threw challenge to all
mighty and powerful persons of the world to
compare themselves with him, so that they could be
overawed by his great deeds and works, and would
feel so insignificant and be in great despair.

25. Where has gone all the pride, power and
pelf that Ozymandias was proud of ?
The ravages of time have destroyed Ozymandias’
dream to overawe humanity with his power,
authority, glory and grandeur. The statue and the
face of ‘king of kings’ lie shattered and sunk in sand
of the desert. Time and agents of destruction have
reduced him to dust. Nothing had=s remained of his
glory, only boundless and bare sand is spreading all
around his broken statue in the desert.

26. MadeBy
AakankshaLolusare
Of Class: X B
Kendriya Vidyalaya
Sector 12 , Dwarka
New Delhi

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