‘Ozymandias’ By Percy Bysshe Shelley

‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley [1817] I met a traveller 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.’

‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley [1817] I met a traveller 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.’ Notice all the sibilance in the poem – adds to a sinister effect

‘Ozymandias’ The poem begins with the pronoun ‘I’—and the first person here is a framing device I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said: The ‘I’ changes to a mysterious ‘traveller’ – this distances the reader

Lines I met a traveller 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, Metaphor of ‘antique’ suggest an ancient time Adjective of ‘vast’ suggests an immense size Privative of ‘trunkless’ suggests incompleteness Sonnet rhyme scheme begins the poem in ‘land’ and ‘sand’ but is incomplete, like the statue, see later slide on rhyme Metaphor in ‘shattered’ suggests that his rule came to an end, like his statue ‘trunkless’ = without a torso ‘visage’ = face Embedded story within a story

Lines 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; Alliteration in ‘cold command’ is emblematic of the empire-building ruler, of the tyrannical kind, also the plosive emphasises this Personification in ‘frown’ as the troubled remaining face of the destabilised ruler Metaphor with dual meaning in ‘mocked’ suggests that the sculptor was either laughing at Ozymandias or that he copied him well Juxtaposition of ‘survive’ and ‘lifeless’ creates a contrast between art and humans Contorted syntax suggests that Ozymandias tried to hide his true self but the sculptor understood it

Lines And on the pedestal, these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; The vainglorious inscription ‘My name is’ symbolises both his arrogance and yet also irony, in that he is now destroyed The inscription is a quote within a quote – much like the story itself – polyphonic voices in the poem The metaphor ‘King of Kings’ suggests that Ozy challenges other kings Metaphor ‘pedestal’ suggests how rulers are idolised in a hierarchy Metaphor ‘appear’ suggests some sort of supernatural apparition This is the ‘volta’ or turning point in the sonnet, the mood changes

Lines Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay This is the use of trochaic [rhymes with ‘sock’] meter - the emphasis on ‘Look’ is Ozy’s tone of authority and command This epithet to other rulers ‘ye Mighty’, challenges their power with a sarcastic tone against his ‘great’ power This metaphor might as well refer to the ‘decay’ of power of any king, who eventually dies This irony juxtaposes meanings. He claims greatness over others with the abstract noun ‘despair’ yet ultimately power is only temporary

Lines Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.’ This alliteration ‘boundless and bare’ suggests an infinite desert – juxtaposes with a ruler’s temporary power This hyperbole ‘colossal’ shows how humans are insignificant compared to the passing of time This adverb ‘away’ suggests the insignificance of Ozy and his statue from the present This alliteration ‘lone and level’ suggests an empty feeling in the surrounding space The use of enjambment on the last three lines adds to the effect of the growing distance of the sands

Petrarchan OR Shakespearean sonnet? I met a traveller from an antique land, A Who said—’Two vast and trunkless legs of stone B Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, A Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, B And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, A Tell that its sculptor well those passions read C Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, D The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; C And on the pedestal, these words appear: E My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; D Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! E Nothing beside remains. Round the decay F Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare E The lone and level sands stretch far away.’ F The octave = introduces a problem The sestet = resolves the problem

Some lines are in iambic, some in trochaic… This is a line of iambic pentameter. There are five iambs (called a foot). Each iamb contains two syllables. Each line has ten syllables. ‘pent’= ‘five’ [in Greek] O = unstressed syllable / = stressed syllable O / Half-sunk, a shatt ered vis age lies, whose frown / OO / / O O / No thing, be side re mains. Round the de cay The poet does not conform to the iambic meter, suggests structure falling apart – like Ozymandias and his statue

Differences in sonnet types Petrarchan sonnetShakespearean sonnet 14 lines First part is an octave [8 lines, usually 2 x 4 lines] Rhymes ABBAABBA Second part is a sestet and can have a variety of patterns [often CDCDCD, or CDECDE] Never ends on a rhyming couplet 14 lines Three quatrains [3 x 4 lines] Rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG A rhyming couplet

Destruction ‘trunkless’ ‘Half sunk’ ‘Shattered’ ‘lifeless’ ‘despair’ ‘Nothing beside’ ‘decay’ ‘boundless and bare’ ‘lone and level’ ‘wreck’ Power ‘antique’ ‘Two vast’ ‘legs of stone’ ‘Stand’ ‘Half sunk’ ‘cold command’ ‘survive’ ‘stamped on’ ‘the pedestal’ ‘Nothing beside remains’ ‘colossal’ ‘stretch far away’ Pride ‘frown’ ‘wrinkled lip’ ‘sneer’ ‘passions’ ‘My name is’ ‘King of Kings’ ‘Look on’