Ozymandias

‘Ozymandias’ is perhaps one of Shelley's most famous poems besides ‘Ode to the West Wind’. Its powerful imagery of fallen majesty also reflects Shelley’s fight against tyranny. Like his father-in-law, William Godwin, Shelley was opposed to monarchy and the government. By writing about Ozymandias, Shelley sends a warning to those in power – that time conquers all.

‘Ozymandias’ summary

1818 was an important year for world literature, which say the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and of ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley( 1792–1822), who was one of the most prominent Romantic poets, is best remembered for his poetry and complicated love life, yet his controversial ideas on politics and society were ahead of his time, promoting free thought, free love and human rights. How did he come to write Ozymandias?

‘Ozymandias’: context

We can examine ‘Ozymandias’ in both its historical and literary contexts.

‘Ozymandias’: historical context

The year that Shelley wrote ‘Ozymandias’, exciting news had been leaking out from the British Museum. The Italian explorer and archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni was bringing ancient relics from Egypt to the British Museum. All of London was abuzz with talk of their imminent arrival from the Land of the Pharaohs (it actually took Belzoni over a year to transport them). Among the finds was a statue of Ramesses II. A fresh interest in Ancient Egypt and its civilisation was growing, and Shelley was no exception.

Shelley was fascinated by the idea of this colossal emblem of power, discovered in the sands of Egypt. In the winter of 1817, then, Shelley set himself to write the poem as part of a competition with his friend and the fellow poet Horace Smith.

Shelley fascinated by the idea of Ramses II.

Shelley opens the poem in a direct narrative :

‘I met a traveller from an antique land’ and the question immediately arises – who was this traveller? Was he entirely fictional? Or did Shelley somehow meet Belzoni after all? It is tempting to imagine such a meeting, perhaps in the shade of the statue itself. However, by the time Belzonio finally managed to get the colossal mass of carved stone to London, Shelley had probably already left England for Italy.

Perhaps the opening line ‘I met a traveller’ is wishful thinking on Shelley's part. After all, he loved a good adventure and meeting one who had experienced Ramses up close, so to speak, would have been fire to his already active imagination.

‘Ozymandias’: literary context

Meanwhile, whether the two men met or not, there was a description of the statue by the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus to set him off:

‘The shades from the tomb… stands a monument of the king known as Ozymandyas…the inscription upon it runs:

Perhaps Shelley was familiar with this text through his classical education, and it does seem he paraphrased it to a degree:

In addition to the classics, there were various travel books around, including Pococke’s Description of the East (1743), and Savary’s Letters on Egypt (1787). One other travel writer, Denon, also describes the statue of Ozymandias - and mentions the inscription, although it is worn away with time. Curiously, his phrases ‘the hand of time’, ‘shattered’, ‘nothing of it remains’ and ‘on the pedestal’ are also used in Shelley's poem.

Perhaps the most interesting detail is the fact that in October and November of 1817, the Shelleys received a visitor by the name of Walter Coulson, who edited a London journal called ‘The Traveller.’ Did Coulson bring a copy containing news of Belzoni’s arrival? Or was Coulson ‘the traveller’? It is possible that Shelley drew on various sources and blended them in his imagination.

‘Ozymandias’ poem analysis and quotes

‘Ozymandias’: the poem

‘Ozymandias’: form and structure

‘Ozymandias’ is structured as a Petrarchan Sonnet, but with some variation. It contains 14 lines broken up into an octet (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines). The first part (the octet) sets the premise: who speaks and what they are talking about. The second part (the sestet) responds to the situation by commenting on it.

The second part is introduced by a ‘volta’, or turning point:

The 'volta' introduces the pedestal containing the pharaoh’s vainglorious words. This structure suggests the structure of a Petrarchan sonnet rather than a Shakespearean one.

In ‘Ozymandias’, Shelley uses the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet (somewhat loosely) but follows the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet.

‘Ozymandias’: meter

Ozymandias adopts a loose iambic pentameter.

‘Ozymandias’: literary devices

Shelley uses a frame narrative for Ozymandias.

Who narrates the story of ‘Ozymandias’?

There are three narrators in ‘Ozymandias’:

• Shelley, the narrator who opens the poem

• The traveller who describes the remains of the statue

• (The statue of) Ozymandias, in the inscription.

Shelley opens with one line:

The traveller then continues with a description of the broken statue in the sand:

The traveller then imagines how the sculptor managed to carve the expression onto the statue, imbuing it with arrogance and cruelty:

The traveller then introduces the inscription engraved on the pedestal of the statue:

Ozymandias now speaks through the words cut into the stone:

After this, the traveller concludes with a description of the desolate situation of this once perfect statue, which now lies in dust, half-forgotten:

Despite the immense power this Pharoah once had, all that remains of him now is a broken statue in the vast and empty desert.

Enjambment

There are two cases in 'Ozymandias' where Shelley uses enjambment. The first occurs between the 2nd and 3rd line:

The line is unbroken and continues into the next without pause.

Alliteration

Shelley uses several alliterations in 'Ozymandias' to emphasise or add dramatic effect. For example, ‘Cold command’ in line 5 describes the expression on the statue’s face.

‘Ozymandias’: mortality and passage of time as a key theme

While Ramesses II once held immense power, all that remains of him now is a faceless piece of rock in the desert. Shelley seems to say that pride and status are worth very little –time will overtake all; the pharaoh’s boastful words ‘King of Kings’ now sound hollow and vain.

Shelley's poem also has a political undercurrent - his general disapproval of royalty finds voice here. The idea of a despotic monarch, a single man born into a status rather than earning it, ran contrary to all his beliefs in a freer and better-ordered world.