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Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe 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 upon 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.
Shelley speaks of more than just some random ruin in this sonnet. Lonliness and disconnection are a part of many stories and are not just representative of the area around the ruins. Carefully think about the things around you. How many will be there as you age? How many will be there when you pass on? What “statue” will you leave behind?
Great people are remembered for what they have done…but, the truly amazing ones are remembered for who they were and how much better they made those around them…good luck and enjoy.
Ozymandius is more than an experience of loneliness and disconnection. It is about immortality of art work— that the enduring quality which prevails although “nothing beside remains”. In a way, although the great emperor has perished but the lowly artist, the sculptor as it were lives through this statue who ironically survives the test of time — a timeless remembrance which the mighty emperor was supposed to have enjoyed.
Ozymandius is more than an experience of loneliness and disconnection. It is about immortality of art work— the enduring quality which prevails although “nothing beside remains”. In a way, the great emperor has perished but the lowly artist, the sculptor as it were lives through this statue who ironically survives the test of time — a timeless remembrance which the mighty emperor was supposed to have enjoyed.