Ozymandias: The Review

“OZYMANDIAZ” by: Percy Bisshe Shelley

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 lip 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.








In the century of 17th, there was an era of literature genre which called Romanticism. At the mentioned time, there are poets who known as the persons who made Romanticism became a movement and took part in influencing literature. They are, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, John Keats, William Blake, S. T. D. Coleridge and, Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, Romanticism characteristics were connected to emotion vs rationality, artist – the creator, love of nature, nationalism, exoticism and, supernatural.
One of the Romantic poets, Percy bysshe Shelly, composed a poem titled “Ozymandias” which the work is well-known up until now. It was published in 1818. It gives a criticism to a man of power or a great ruler that an artist works could make the better acknowledgement.
Somehow, the subjects used in the poem is, the first person that uses “I”. Therefore, it mentions about the meeting of “I” with a traveler from an antique land who stated something about a wrecked sculpture of a king or, a man of power.
Shelley give the descriptions about the physical mainframe of the king which can be found in the sentence, "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 lip and sneer of cold command.” There, imagery could be captured that the king would be seem as a tyrant.
Therefore, in the next sentence, Shelley began to mention about an artist, sculptor who made the sculptor itself. Hence, the expression states in the poem could be taken as a compliment to the sculptor. It expressed an amazement of how the way sculptor stamped the passion of the king through his observation. Yet, it also tells the sculptor hand mocked it.
Then, Shelley stated her idealism using the pedestal as the representation. Obviously, readers would be understood that the pedestal means an courage expression of the sculptor. Yet, the poem gives a climax to support it.:
“`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
If we pay attention closely to the latter, the tone would be emotional that claims the sculptor confidence by calling himself as “Ozymandias” and declared himself the king of kings, then, the threatening statement of the sculptor to support his declaration. The poem closed with a description of setting, only sands that represent an emptiness of where the symbol of king placed.
Shelley filled her emotion well in this poem. Which could be concluded as the great appreciation to artists and their creation of artwork, yet, also gave an explanation about how a work of art could stand against a king or, a man of power.
As a reader of literary works, I like it very much, because, I can take lesson from the very each words in the poem. This poem also remarkable that, indeed, helps one of some characteristics form of Romanticism definition that is, emotionally tied.