Ozymandias Analysis

- A fourteen-line sonnet written in 1817 by a British Romantic poet whose name is synonymous
with radical, social, and political change.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley lived a chaotic, nomadic life but managed to produce poetry and pamphlets
for most of his adult years. He eventually married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of
philosopher William Godwin, and eloped with her to Europe, living in a circle of artistic friends
and lovers which included for a time Lord Byron.
- It was during this time that Shelley died at the age of 29 when his boat sank in a storm in the Gulf
of Spezia, Italy. Atheist, pacifist and vegetarian, he was mourned by his close friends but back in
England he was viewed as an agitator.
- His wide-ranging poetry lives on. A sensitive nature poet, he wrote the oft quoted To a Skylark
and The Flower That Smiles Today but he could pen political verse too, notably England in 1819.
- Ozymandias is a political poem at heart, written at a time when Napoleon's domination of Europe
was coming to an end and another empire, that of Great Britain's, was about to take over.
- Shelley's poem encapsulates metaphorically the outcome of such tyrannical wielding of power -
no leader, King, despot, dictator or ruler can overcome time. Overall, this sonnet paints a picture
of an egotistical character who thought himself without rival but who was cruel to his people.

Form Analysis

- Shelley's sonnet is a bit of a twist on the traditional form. It does have 14 lines and is mostly iambic
pentameter, but the rhyme scheme is different, being ababacdcedefef which reflects an
unorthodox approach to the subject.
- It has a strange mixture of the two forms. It’s structure of octave and sestet are Petrarchan, but
the rhyme scheme is initially Shakespearean (first four is ABAB). But it further distorts lines 5 – 8
is ACDC, rather than CDCD. Line 9-12 is EDEF, rather than EFEF. And instead of a couplet, we get
another EF. Completely as follows: ABABACDCEDEFEF
- Shelley isn’t completely using iambic pentameter
o (4) half-sunk, a shatt-er'd vis-age lies, whose b>frown
o (12) No-thing be-side re-mains: round the de-cay
- The line begins with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable; this is called a trochee,
and it's the reverse of an iamb. After the initial trochee, we get two iambs, but then we go back
to a trochee with "round the," finally ending with an iamb; there's no name for this jumping
around! This refusal to conform to any specific meter is evident throughout the poem and makes
it difficult to classify with a simple formula like iambic pentameter.
- Furthermore, it does not fit a conventional Petrarchan pattern, but instead interlinks the octave
(a term for the first eight lines of a sonnet) with the sestet (a term for the last six lines), by
gradually replacing old rhymes with new ones.
- It's not a Shakespearean sonnet, nor is it a Petrarchan - the poet made certain of its individuality
by choosing not to introduce a 'turn' after the second quatrain. Instead there is a simple shift of
emphasis, the narrator sharing the words on the pedestal that are in effect, the words of the fallen
leader.
- Is this Shelley yet again breaking with tradition, defying the establishment?
Sound

- Occasional use of alliteration

o legs of stone/stand (lines 2-3)
o sneer of cold command, (line 5)
o boundless and bare (line 13)
o The lone and level sands stretch (line 14)
- It also contains rhymes and slant rhymes using a which is very important for the sound.
- antique/land/vast/stand/sand/shattered/command/passions/stamped/hand/and/Ozymandias/
sands.
- It produces an almost cutting edge to some lines that causes the reader to pause through the
punctuations like on lines 3 – 5:
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,

- The pronoun I is used in the beginning to the sonnet and cleverly transitions to a third person, a
traveler, whose words are contained in the remaining thirteen lines. This was highly unusual for
a sonnet at the time and reflects the poet's innovative thinking.
- There are two people in a conversation, one recently returned from a journey through this ancient
place or country. They narrate and describe the huge statue in the sands of the desert, once a
monument of a great leader, now in pieces and forgotten, and this leader was Ozymandias.
- Sounds like a Shakespearean tragedy, due to the final lines being reminiscent of something, much
like Ozymandias’ funeral.

Syntax

- is a little tricky
- Octave consists of two sentences, the second has a lot of clauses that must be sifted through and
assigned their proper function.

Imagery

- The second line uses words such as “vast and trunkless… half sunk… shattered visage… frown and
wrinkled lip… sneer of cold command…” and these are accurate descriptions of Ozymandias also
known as Rameses II, and it reflects the writer’s own thoughts on those who crave and wield
power.
- The words written on the pedestal, the stand that once held the statue, now seem meaningless
and rhetorical; it's the statement of an arrogant despot.
- This broken, weathered statue lies in a desert, a desolate place that goes on for miles and miles.
Not many people pass through that desert, or would want to, in contrast with the past. A once
great leader has been left to history and will be buried in the sand in time.

Metaphor Analysis
 - Only focuses on a single metaphor: the shattered, ruined statue in the desert wasteland, with its
arrogant, passionate face and monomaniacal inscription (Line 11).
- The once-great king’s proud boast has been ironically disproved; Ozymandias’s works have
crumbled and disappeared, his civilization is gone, all has been turned to dust by the impersonal,
indiscriminate, destructive power of history. The ruined statue is now merely a monument to one
man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage
of time.
- Ozymandias is first and foremost a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power, and in
that sense the poem is Shelley’s most outstanding political sonnet, trading the specific rage of a
poem like “England in 1819” for the crushing impersonal metaphor of the statue.
- But Ozymandias symbolizes not only political power—the statue can be a metaphor for the pride
and hubris of all of humanity, in any of its manifestations. It is significant that all that remains of
Ozymandias is a work of art and a group of words; as Shakespeare does in the sonnets, Shelley
demonstrates that art and language long outlast the other legacies of power.

Deeper Analysis

- Ozymandias is a commentary on the ephemeral nature of absolute political power. Monarchs and
dictators and tyrants are all subject to change sooner or later - and Shelley's language reflects his
dislike for such rulers.
 Note the use of sunk/ shattered/ sneer of cold command/ lifeless/ mocked/ fed/ decay/ bare/
lone… are words that seek to undermine those in positions of privilege and power.
- What is clear is the contempt held for the arrogance of this ruler Ozymandias, for his hand mocked
and his greedy heart fed on the people, and only the sculptor's great skill remains to record these
things.
- The inscription further reinforces the idea that this once all powerful leader thought greatly of
himself, building up his ego by declaring he is king of kings no less. Surely no one could surpass
his greatness.
- Shelley's use of despair puts everything into perspective. Ozymandias thought himself so Mighty
that even others who claimed their works were mighty would pale into insignificance. To contest
this claim would be their ruin.
- The mightier they are, the heavier they fall seems to be a part of Shelley's message.
- Written in 1817, Shelley no doubt had opinions on the state of Britain and Europe at that time
and Ozymandias could well have been influenced by the life of one Napoleon Bonaparte, the
would-be Emperor of all Europe and beyond. He had invaded Egypt a few years earlier and fought
with the British to keep control of the Nile and its lands. Napoleon eventually lost out and was
exiled to a distant island, St Helena, where he died in 1821.
- Ozymandias stands the test of time and is relevant for this and every other age. Dictators, despots
and others who abuse their absolute power will fall foul of events eventually.
- Shelley's choice of a sonnet within which to work his words is fascinating, for the sonnet is a tight,
packed field of regularity. It is the traditional form for the expression of love. So, did the sonnet
form appeal because he wanted to invert the notion of love for someone?
- Reading Ozymandias satisfactorily is a challenge - there are three voices, the original "I", the
traveler and the voice of Ozymandias himself. What makes the whole so successful is the way
 the poet has seamlessly woven all three together, the final image of the distant, endless sands
contrasting powerfully with the now hollow words of Ozymandias.
- Shelley made the sonnet into a story told to the speaker by a traveler from an antique land that
adds a level of obscurity to Ozymandias’ position with regard to the reader—rather than seeing
it for ourselves, we hear it from someone who heard about it from someone else who has seen
it.
- Thus, the ancient king is rendered even less commanding; the distancing of the narrative serves
to undermine his power over us just as completely as has the passage of time.

“shattered visage”
“frown/and wrinkled lip and sneer cold See the face itself
command”
“the hand that mocked them and the heart that the king’s people in the line
fed.”
“Look on my woks, ye Mighty, and despair!” Imaginatively complete and introduced to the
extraordinary, prideful boast of the king
“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of The poet disposes our imaginary picture of the
that colossal wreck, boundless and bare. / The kind and interposes centuries of ruin between it
lone and level stands stretch far away.” and us.