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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.”. Source: Shelley’s Poetry and Prose (1977) This Poem has a Poem Guide. View Poem Guide.
“Ozymandias” is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley wrote “Ozymandias” in 1817 as part of a poetry contest with a friend and had it published in The Examiner in 1818 under the pen name Glirastes. The title “Ozymandias” refers to an alternate name of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II.
Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'Ozymandias' serves as a poignant exploration of humanity's insatiable hunger for power and the detrimental consequences that arise from its pursuit. Several poets, including Richard Watson Gilder and John B. Rosenma, have written poems titled "Ozymandias" in response to Shelley's work.
Percy Bysshe Shelley. 1792 –. 1822. 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,
Percy Bysshe Shelley. 99. ‘Ozymandias’ is one of Shelley's best poems, portraying a decaying statue in a desert with the inscription “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair”. This stark imagery contrasts the once-mighty ruler's declaration, emphasizing the fleeting nature of human achievements.
The fallen titan Ozymandias becomes an occasion for Shelley’s exercise of this most tenuous yet persisting form, poetry. Shelley’s sonnet, a brief epitome of poetic thinking, has outlasted empires: it has witnessed the deaths of boastful tyrants, and the decline of the British dominion he so heartily scorned.
Study Guide. Summary & Analysis. When Percy Bysshe Shelley first wrote “Ozymandias” in 1817, he did so as part of a competition with his friend and fellow poet, Horace Smith. The two men each agreed to write a sonnet on the subject of Ozymandias, which is the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian king otherwise known as Rameses II.
