Percy bysshe shelley ozymandias analysis cartoons

It is here that the ruins speak, issuing their challenge to all who behold them. Once the inscription is recited, the poem shifts back into the voice of the traveler, who carries the poem to its conclusion. But arguably, we are not done breaking down the rhetorical nesting here. On a meta level, we know that the poem is work of one particular author, Shelley, who per traditional analysis of poetry is a separate entity from the first-person speaker.

On a diegetic level, we know that the statue of Ozymandias has an artist, who gave the the statue its inscription. So why bother with all that embedding? A common sentiment that one finds in poetry about art is the notion that art grants one a kind of immortality. Even after one dies, the thinking goes, their works will outlast them and carry their spirit through the ages.

This is hardly a unique phenomenon: Paintings are lost and damaged, cathedrals crumble from neglect, and sculptures of kings wither in the elements. One might think that poetry, which is not so tied to the fragile physical world, would be better suited for immortality than the plastic arts.

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We cannot commit a sculpture to memory, but we can do so with a poem. More so than any other form of poetry, sonnets often concern themselves with the possibility of immortality through art. This is especially true when it comes to romantic love, as the speaker will often promise the object of their affections, whose beauty will naturally fade with time, the chance to live forever in their poetry.

One might suggest that the oral tradition will protect the work from decay. After all, the statue in some sense has survived the six levels of abstraction outlined above. But what, exactly, has survived that process? Certainly not the empire-building magnificence the statue was meant to project. Now that we have gone over these few points that should be understood and internalized, we can make our way into our line-by-line Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley analysis.

The first section that we will examine is, by far, the lengthiest of all the sections of this poem. We are having a look at the opening octave plus the final line that leads into the sestet. The reason it has been separated will be made clear in time. The first line of the poem, which leads into the second line through enjambment which also indicates that we should read this poem as if there are no breaks between the various linesis the only part of the poem that is not found within inverted commas.

This means that this first line, alongside the first two words of the second line, serves as our setup for the remainder of the poem. Which countries are often seen as those that come from an antique period? This figure was seen as one of the greatest in the history of ancient Egypt and an immensely important figure. He was a great conqueror and spread the culture of Egypt during his reign.

This is external information that is important to have when trying to understand Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. If you are entirely unfamiliar with it, then the exact meanings of the poem can be harder to ascertain. Image of Ramesses II of the 19th Dynasty, from the early years of his reign c. This is why, before we proceed, we should stop to talk about the statue that serves as the primary poetic subject in this poem.

This poem tells us about a statue, and that statue is a real statue that partially collapsed. It was a statue of the eponymous Ozymandias. The poem was written when this particular statue came to be more widely known in Britain after part of it wound up in the British Museum. It is considered to be one of the greatest statues produced in ancient Egypt, and it has become widely known since it was uncovered.

With that explained, let us proceed. The opening setup gives way to this traveler from Egypt who now tells the speaker and, by extension, us, about the statue. This entire section serves to describe that statue. This is the head of the statue. We are being told here, in these first few lines, that the statue has broken apart. The head and the legs are entirely disconnected from one another.

The statue lies broken, and we are also presented with the image of this broken statue lying in the sand. The image of sand, and its lack of fertility, can be used as a means of representing decay. It has not fallen onto the grass and become overgrown. It has simply remained there. Untouched and uncatered to for so long that it has nearly become one with the sand.

The image of sand and the nothingness that surrounds it will be a motif that recurs later in the poem. Instead, this is likely a cold and detached leader.

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Shortly after this description, we are told that the sculptor who made this statue must have understood the ruler to have been able to create such a perfect representation of that sneer. The mention of the sculptor is an important one. The sculptor would have been a citizen who was under Ozymandias. The ruler kept his subjects in line through force but also ensured that they were fed and, therefore, dependent and subservient to him.

None of this portrays a particularly flattering image of Ozymandias as a leader. However, we are soon to hear from the long-dead mouth of Ozymandias in the next section. The final line of this section introduces us to a pedestal that sits beside the statue. On that pedestal, there are words. These words will now be conveyed to us, and these words tell us a lot about the kind of person that Ozymandias was.

This second section of our analysis will be the shortest by far, but it is also an incredibly important part of the poem as a whole. This is the lynchpin around which the entire message of the poem is focused. While the first section above was focused on a description of the glory of this statue, this section examines what is written on this statue.

There may not be all that many words on this pedestal, but they are potent words. The use of capitals here presents us with a more religious image. This term has often been used to describe certain figures within a religious context and, in terms of the context of ancient Egypt, this does also make sense. The pharaohs were seen as human incarnations of actual gods.

They were gods. So, Ozymandias seeing and presenting himself as the King of Kings makes complete sense. The second line is where the most important point is made. This capitalized term refers to the accomplishments of his life. He built his empire far greater than before, and the area surrounding that statue was covered in the fruits of the labor of those who were under him.

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He wishes for everyone who sees this statue to know that everything around that statue came from his work, from his labor, from his leadership. Everything belongs to him, and he is a great king! The other part of that line further solidifies this. He sees himself as a grand ruler who could never be toppled, and all must look at what he has created in this world so that they can feel small and weak in comparison to him.

However, this statement stands in stark juxtaposition to what is beside that statue. The final section of the poem provides a description and shows us that there is nothing at all around that place. It is broken and dismembered. The supposed eternal strength and power of the once-great monarch who was Ozymandias has been reduced to nothing at all.

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Ozymandias may have once created a great and powerful empire, but that has long since passed from the world. It is gone now. Type your email…. Reblogged this on Jude's Threshold and commented: a timely analysis! Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive. Continue reading. Discover more from Interesting Literature Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

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