“Ozymandias” Analysis

Avoid… The poet uses language… The poet uses vivid language… The poet uses literary techniques…

Thesis Statements Percy Shelley illustrates the influence of Romanticism on literature through the poem’s imagery and word choice. “Ozymandias” demonstrates the characteristics of a sublime Romantic poem.

Thesis Statements In “Ozymandias” the author uses the philosophy of the sublime to illustrate how nature subdues the achievements of man. “Ozymandias” exemplifies the Romantic and the sublime through the images of a vast desert eating away at the statue of a legendary king.

Thesis Statements In the poem “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley creates the image of a wrecked sculpture to show that nature destroys all. In the poem “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley uses an allusion to the lost accomplishments of a king to convey the mortality of personal glory.

Thesis Statements In “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley uses the irony of a king’s broken statue to exhibit nature’s superiority over arrogant mankind. In the poem “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley uses the desert’s destruction of manmade glory to show the Romantic idea that nature overpowers man.

Close Reading Examples: linking Style with Meaning At the beginning of the poem, the statue of Ozymandias is described as having a “frown and sneer of cold command” (4-5). The word “cold” has the connotation of being heartless and emotionless. Due to the fact that he was cold, the reader can conclude that he did not care about his people.

Close Reading Examples Shelley uses desolate, broken words such as “vast,” “trunkless,” “shattered” that give a sense of loss and destruction. The predictable rhyme scheme throughout the poem makes the downfall seem inevitable.

Close Reading Examples By using the words “lone” and “level,” Shelley applies the equalizing forces of nature to the mortality of the accomplishments of mankind. The king’s blunt announcement of his name shows his pride for his position and himself. By calling himself “king of kings,” he alludes to God and believes he is greater than all other men.

Close Reading Examples The intimidating language on the pedestal and the statue made for him display that Ozymandias possessed almighty power over his kingdom. Over time, the statue became “two vast and trunkless legs of stone…half sunk, a shattered visage” (2-4). As time passed, the sand has literally destroyed the symbol of what was once the greatest man.

Close Reading Examples Further on, the civilization is described as “nothing beside remains” (12). Buildings have not only been metaphorically reclaimed by nature but have literally decayed into nonexistence. Creators of this kingdom expected it to outlast anything brought on by the centuries to come, only to ultimately reach defeat by the nature it had first reclaimed.

Close Reading Examples Inscribed, we see that the king referred to himself as “king of kings” (10). In the Bible, Jesus Christ is described in the same way. The king puts himself at an even stature to a deity. Ultimate superiority is referenced here and furthers how highly we see the king finds himself. This pride blinds any leader from seeing how a civilization is running and cannot fix then the fatal effect of nature. Hubris therefore is yet another influence that brings down Ozymandias’ society in this poem.