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 lips, 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."
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To me the poems meaning and main message is that no one lives forever and not even the biggest of all statues can last forever. Just as the the legs are covered in the sand the man who the statue represents is also covered in dirt/sand. The king wanted all who saw the mighty statue remember him as the king of kings but most things over time fade away and are forever lost
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brian that Shelly main message its that no one lives for ever. More specifically I believe it is Shelly's commentary on rulers or people who are vain. In this case it is a ruler who once had all the power over many people. When the face was described with the word "sneer" it gave a sense that the ruler depicted was not all that nice to his under his control. So in my reading I felt like Shelly's overall message was that people should not think that they are superior than anyone because at the end everyone ends up the same, dead and eventually dust.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both my peers; however, I think that Shelly's message traces far back to what we do when we are alive. She mentions the ruler who at some point in life had power and now all that remains of him are bones. She is arguing that it does not matter who you were in life because either way we are all going to die and our lives would consume to bones and dust. Thus, we can infer that what matters is what we do and don't do during our life time. It is important to use our power or desire to make changes in the world or in the lives of others.That way humanity would not only remember an individual for their depiction instead they would remember the good actions of that individual.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting are the symbols used in the poem. “Sand” represents lonesome and separation from cities or communities. In this poem Shelley expresses it that way, because of the king statue being alone, and before actually known famously around his city. The statue was divide in pieces which might mean he wasn’t really known that well to be a good king and was became a tyrant. In the inscription he writes to notice his works which is ironic because what he use to rule is now sand.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the "Ozymandias" is a symbol of power, influence and fame but the person has nothing at all, his name shows power is temporary. In lines 10-14 describes not even old has a single statue decayed, but all of Ozymandias's work: towns, temples and statues turned to sand as time passes by. The dessert sand swallows buildings and leaving no hint of human presence.
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