Ozymandias By Percy Bysshe Shelley About the Poem: Written On December 1817. Published In 1818 In The January 11 Issue Of “The Examiner” In London.

1. POEM:
OZYMANDIAS
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

3. ABOUT THE POET:
THE SON OF A RICH TORY
SQUIRE, PERCY BYSSHE
SHELLEY WAS EDUCATED AT
ETON AND THEN SENT TO
OXFORD. SHELLEY CAME
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF
REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS OF
THE ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER,
WILLIAM GODWIN, WHOSE
DAUGHTER, MARY GODWIN
HE ULTIMATELY MARRIED. IN
1818, SHELLEY LEFT FOR
ITALY: HE DROWNED IN THE
BAY OF SPEZIA IN 1822.

4. ABOUT THE POEM:
oWRITTEN ON DECEMBER 1817.
oPUBLISHED IN 1818 IN THE JANUARY 11 ISSUE OF
“THE EXAMINER” IN LONDON.
oFREQUENTLY ANTHOLOGISED AND PROBABLY SHELLEY'S
MOST FAMOUS SHORT POEM.
oWRITTEN IN COMPETITION WITH HIS FRIEND HORACE SMITH,
WHO WROTE ANOTHER SONNET ENTITLED “OZYMANDIAS”.
oTHOUGHT TO BE INSPIRED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE STATUE
OF “RAMSES 2” IN BRITAIN.
oA ‘CLASSIC’ POEM WHICH HAS BEEN STUDIED AND
DISSECTED COUNTLESS TIMES IN THE SUBJECT OF ENGLISH
EVER SINCE ITS CREATION.

5. OZYMANDIAS

6. 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,

7. 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 PEDESTAL THESE
WORDS APPEAR:

8. “MY NAME IS OZYMANDIAS,
KING OF KINGS:
LOOK UPON MY WORKS, YE
MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR!”
NOTHING BESIDES
REMAINS. ROUND THE
DECAY
OF THAT COLOSSAL
WRECK, BOUNDLESS AND
BARE
THE LONE AND LEVEL
SANDS STRETCH FAR
AWAY.

9. WORD-MEANINGS:
1) Trunkless: without the upper body
2) Visage: face
3) Sneer: facial expression of scorn or hostility in
which the upper lip may be raised

10. 4) Vast: massive, colossal, huge
5)Shattered: crushed
6) Frown: scowl

11. 7) Wrinkled: crumpled
8) Passion: strong feelings
9) Wreck: damaged

12. 10) Bare: unclothed
11) Boundless: endless
12) Mock: tease or imitate in an unkind way

13. 13) Mighty: powerful or strong
14) Remains: leftovers
15) Pedestal: the base supporting the statue

14. SYNOPSIS:
The speaker describes a rendezvous with someone who has traveled to a place
where ancient civilizations once existed. We know from the title that he’s
talking about Egypt. The traveler told the speaker a story about an old,
fragmented statue in the middle of the desert. The statue is broken apart,
but you can still make out the face of a person. The face looks stern and
powerful, like a ruler. The sculptor did a good job at expressing the ruler’s
personality. The ruler was a wicked guy, but he took care of his people.
On the pedestal near the face, the traveler reads an inscription in which the
ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who might happen to pass by, basically,
“Look around and see how awesome I am!” But there is no other evidence of
his awesomeness in the vicinity of his giant, broken statue. There is just a
lot of sand, as far as the eye can see. The traveler ends his story.

15. SUMMARIZING:
I MET A TRAVELER FROM AN ANTIQUE LAND
WHO SAID...
The poem begins immediately with an encounter between the
speaker and a traveler that comes from an "antique land."
We're not sure about this traveler. He could be a native of this
"antique" land, or just a tourist returning from his latest trip.
"Antique" means something really old. The traveler could be
coming from a place that is ancient, almost as if he were time-
traveling. Or he could just be coming from a place that has an
older history, like Greece, Rome, or ancient Egypt.

16. …TWO VAST AND TRUNKLESS LEGS OF STONE
STAND IN THE DESERT. NEAR THEM ON THE SAND,
HALF SUNK, A SHATTER'D VISAGE LIES…
Here the traveler begins his speech. He tells the speaker about a pair
of stone legs that are somehow still standing in the middle of the
desert.
Those legs are huge ("vast") and "trunkless." "Trunkless" means
"without a torso," so it's a pair of legs with no body.
“Visage" means face; a face implies a head, so we are being told that
the head belonging to this sculpture is partially buried in the sand,
near the legs. It is also, like the whole statue, "shatter'd."
The image described is very strange: a pair of legs, with a head
nearby.

17. …WHOSE FROWN
AND WRINKLED LIP AND SNEER OF COLD COMMAND
TELL THAT ITS SCULPTOR WELL THOSE PASSIONS READ
The traveler now gives a fuller description of the "shatter'd visage"
lying in the sand.
As it turns out, the "visage" (or face) isn't completely "shatter'd"
because one can still see a "frown," a "wrinkled lip," and a "sneer."
We still don't know whom this statue represents, but we do know
that he was upset about something because he's frowning and
sneering. Maybe he thinks that the sneering makes him look
powerful. It conveys the "cold command" of an absolute ruler. He
can do what he wants without thinking of other people. Heck, he
probably commanded the sculptor to make the statue.

18. After briefly describing the "visage", the lines shift our attention
away from the statue to the guy who made the statue, the "sculptor."
"Read" here means "understood" or "copied" well. The sculptor was
pretty good because he was able to understand and reproduce
exactly – to "read" – the facial features and "passions" of the angry
man. The sculptor might even grasp things about the ruler that the
ruler himself doesn't understand.
The poem suggests that artists have the ability to perceive the true
nature of other people in the present and not just in the past, with the
benefit of hindsight.
"Tell" is a cool word. The statue doesn't literally speak, but the
frown and sneer are so perfectly rendered that they give the
impression that they are speaking, telling us how great the sculptor
was.

19. WHICH YET SURVIVE, STAMP'D ON THESE LIFELESS
THINGS,
THE HAND THAT MOCK'D THEM AND THE HEART THAT FED
The poem now tells us more about the "passions" of the face
depicted on the statue.
Weirdly, the "passions" still survive because they are "stamp'd on
these lifeless things." The "lifeless things" are the fragments of the
statue in the desert.
"Stamp'd" doesn't refer to an ink-stamp, but rather to the artistic
process by which the sculptor inscribed the "frown" and "sneer" on
his statue's face. The word could also make you think of the ruler's
power. Had he wanted to, he could have stamped out any of his
subjects who offended him.

20. "Mock'd" has two meanings in this passage. It means both "made
fun of" and "copied," or "imitated." "Hand" is a stand-in for the
sculptor. So the sculptor both belittled and copied this man's
passions.
"The heart that fed" is a tricky phrase; it refers to the heart that
"fed" or nourished the passions of the man that the statue
represents. But if you think these lines are unclear, you're right.
Even scholars have trouble figuring out what they mean.
The passions not only "survive"; they have also outlived both the
sculptor ("the hand that mock'd") and the heart of the man
depicted by the statue.
Note the contrast between life and death. The fragments of the
statue are called "lifeless things," the sculptor is dead, and so is
the statue's subject. The "passions" though, still "survive."

21. AND ON THE PEDESTAL THESE WORDS APPEAR:
"MY NAME IS OZYMANDIAS, KING OF KINGS:
LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR!“
The traveler tells us about an inscription at the foot of statue
which finally reveals to us whom this statue represents.
It is "Ozymandias. "Ozymandias" was one of several Greek
names for Ramses 2 of Egypt.
The inscription suggests that Ozymandias is
arrogant(superior), or at least that he has grand ideas about
his own power: he calls himself the "king of kings."

22. Ozymandias also brags(show off) about his "works." Maybe
he's referring to the famous temples he constructed at Abu
Simbel or Thebes. He could also be calling attention to the
numerous colossal statues of him, such as the one described in
this poem.
Ozymandias's speech is ambiguous(unclear) here. On the
one hand he tells the "mighty" to "despair" because their
achievements will never equal his "works." On the other hand,
he might be telling the "mighty" to "despair" as a kind of
warning, saying something like "Don't get your hopes up
guys because your statues, works, political regimes, etc. will
eventually be destroyed or fade away, with nothing to recall
them but a dilapidated(declining) statue half-buried in the
sand."

23. NOTHING BESIDE REMAINS: ROUND THE DECAY
OF THAT COLOSSAL WRECK, BOUNDLESS AND BARE,
THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS STRETCH FAR AWAY.
After the traveler recites the inscription, he resumes his
description of the statue and the surrounding area.
We are reminded again that "nothing" remains besides the head,
legs, and pedestal; as if we didn't know the statue has been
destroyed, the traveler tells us again that it is a "colossal wreck."
The very size of the statue – "colossal" – emphasizes the scope of
Ozymandias's ambitions as well; it's almost as if because he
thinks he's the "king of kings", he also has to build a really big
statue.

24. To complement(add to) the "decay" of the statue, the traveler
describes a desolate(bleak & empty) and barren desert that seems
to go on forever: the "sands stretch far away."
The statue is the only thing in this barren, flat desert. There was
probably once a temple or something nearby, but it's long gone.
The "sands" are "lone," which means whatever else used to be
"beside" the statue has been destroyed or buried.
Several words in these lines start with the same letter; for
example "besides," "boundless," and "bare"; "remains" and "round";
"lone" and "level"; "sands" and "stretch." Using multiple words
with the same initial letter is called alliteration.

25. EXERCISES:
1) The poem is set in ____________________________________________
1. The wilderness
2. An ancient land
3. A palace
4. A desert
Answer:
4. A desert

26. 2) The expression on the face of the statue is one of ____________________
1. Admiration
2. Anger
3. Despair
4. Contempt
Answer:
4. Contempt

27. 3) This poem throws light on the _________________ nature of
Ozymandias.
1. Cruel
2. Arrogant
3. Boastful
4. Aggressive
Answer:
3. Boastful

28. 4) The sculptor was able to understand Ozymandias'
___________________
1. Words
2. Expression
3. Feelings
4. Ambition
Answer :
3. Feelings

29. 5) The tone of the poem is ________________________________________
1. Mocking
2. Nostalgic
3. Gloomy
4. Gloating
Answer:
1. Mocking

30. • Question: 1 - “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed”.
Whose hand and heart has the poet referred to in this line?
• Answer: The sculptor’s hands and heart are referred to in this line. It
was the sculptor whose hands must have copied the inner feelings of
the Ozymandias while making the statue.
• Question: 2 - “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”. Why
does Ozymandias refer to himself as King of Kings? What
quality of the king is revealed through this statement?
Answer the following questions briefly:

31. • Answer: Ozymandias may have become a powerful king by
defeating the other kings. He may have assumed all the powers as
per his wishes and that is why he refers to himself as King of
Kings. This statement shows that the king must be very proud of
his achievements.
• Question: 3 - “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Who is
Ozymandias referring to when he speaks of ye Mighty? Why
should they despair?
• Answer: Ozymandias is probably referring to his enemy kings to
feel despair at his achievements.
• Question: 4 - Bring out the irony in the poem.

32. • Answer: The once powerful king who was glorified through a
grand statue is no more and even his statue is shattered into
pieces; lying against the backdrop of mighty nature. This is the
irony in the poem.
• Question: 5 - “Nothing beside remains”. What does the narrator
mean when he says these words?
• Answer: Apart from the trunkless legs on the pedestal and a
shattered visage, no remains of the once grand statue can be seen
in the vast desert. By saying this, the narrator tries to highlight
that a time comes when everything has to meet its end.
• Question: 6 - What is your impression of Ozymandias as a king?

33. • Answer: Ozymandias seems to be a very powerful tyrannical
ruler, who was extremely boastful of himself and his kingdom.
Ozymandias could have been a powerful king who wanted to
enjoy his days of glory. He also wanted to leave a mark in the
form of a grand statue so that the future generations could
remember him.
• Question: 7 - What message is conveyed through this poem?
• Answer: This poem tells about the insignificance of the life of
an individual when seen in the larger context of time which
never stops to take notice. Through this poem a very important
message is conveyed which explains the ultimate truth of
human lives that nothing is important. Everything in this
world is time-bound and not immortal. The immutability of
time has been explained through this poem.

34. FIGURES OF SPEECH USED IN THE POEM:
1) ALLITERATION: Repeated consonant sounds at the
beginning of words placed near each other, usually on
the same or adjacent lines. A somewhat looser definition
is that it is the use of the same consonant in any part of
adjacent word.
For instance: Of that colossal wreck, boundless and
bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away

35. 2) IRONY: Irony is a figure of speech in which words
are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words. It may
also be a situation that may end up in quite a different
way than what is generally anticipated. In simple
words, it is a difference between the appearance and the
reality.
For instance: Look upon my works so mighty & despair
nothing beside remains

36. 3) HYPERBOLE: Hyperbole, derived from Greek word
meaning “over-casting” is a figure of speech, which
involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.
It is a device that we employ in our day-to-day speech. For
instance, when you meet a friend after a long time, you
say, “Ages have passed since I first saw you.
For instance: King of Kings

37. 4) SYNECDOCHE: A synecdoche is a literary devices
that uses a part of something to refer to the whole. It is
somewhat rhetorical in nature, where the entire object is
represented by way of a faction of it or a faction of the
object is symbolized by the full.
For instance: a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

38. MESSAGE CONVEYED THROUGH THE POEM:
oThe moral of the poem ‘Ozymandias’ is that pride and
arrogance can lead to destruction.
oOzymandias was obviously a very proud and arrogant
man. He was vain enough to imagine that he was the most
powerful ruler on Earth and he wanted every one to be
terrified of him. He was always scowling and frowning in
order to scare every one around him. It is this angry
frowning face which the ancient sculpture has faithfully
recorded for posterity in his statue. All the great ruler try
to perpetuate their memories by building mammoth
statues.

39. oTheir pride and arrogance knows no bounds as they erect
these huge statues and vainly inscribe bombastic claims
about the superiority of the kingdoms which they rule.
oThey are all subject to the laws of time. Ozymandias was
so powerful in his days, but now his statues have fallen no
one knows his name. What was once his empire is now a
backwater -an antique land. Everything that he worked
for and accomplished has forgotten. His efforts were
pointless. The poem is implying that all human life is like
that.
oThe theme is that human beings and materialistic values
are seasonal and are bound to end.