OZYMANDIAS OF

EGYPT
PERCY BYSSHE
SHELLEY
 ANALYSIS
• When Percy Bysshe Shelley penned “Ozymandias” in the early years of the
19th century, European explorers were moving rapidly west across North
America, battling over South America and beginning to turn their attentions
to Africa.
• Romantic era writers were inspired by this spirit of exploration and
adventure, as were their readers, who demanded tales of exotic places,
peoples, cultures and histories.
• This genre became known as ‘travel writing’ and would reach its peak later in
the century.
• Shelley’s sonnet, with its exotic title and subject and opening promise of
being a tale from a foreign land, would have suited this atmosphere well.
 A SYMBOL OF POWER … AND
PRIDE
• The exotic subject of Shelley’s poem is an enormous statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II,
‘Ozymandias’ being a transliteration of the first part of pharaoh’s throne name (Usermaatre
Setepenre) made by the ancient Greek and Roman historians.
• Ramses II, who ruled Egypt 3000 years ago, was an able and ambitious leader whose numerous
military campaigns not only strengthened the borders of Egypt, but, in some cases, extended the
reach of his empire into surrounding lands, such as Syria and Nubia.
• Wherever these campaigns were successful, Ramses II commissioned grand monuments that
celebrated the strength of himself and his empire.
• The statue in the poem is presumed to have been the centrepiece of one of these monuments.
• In the poem, the statue becomes an ironic symbol of human hubris and the nature of political
power.
• Poem accomplishes this by inverting the symbolism of the statue.
• By depicting the decay of the statue over time, the poem demonstrates how the pharaoh’s claims
to all-surpassing strength and power are unfounded.
• The reader is encouraged to conclude that this display of strength is, ultimately, nothing more
than a display of the pharaoh’s arrogance and pride.
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Sample Footer Text
 STRUCTURE
• Sonnet
• Opens with an octave of eight lines that ‘sets the scene’ or
describes the situation to the reader (a mighty statue of Ramses
II in a vast desert), followed by a sestet of six lines that
introduces an unexpected or subversive twist (the inevitable
decline of rulers and their pretensions to greatness).
• Irregular rhyme scheme (ABABACDC EDEFEF) – violates the rule
that there should be no connection in rhyme scheme between
the octave and sestet (to help emphasise the distinction between
the two sections).
 Bulk of narrative is speaker’s dictation or
I met a traveller from an antique land transcription of his conversation with an
anonymous “traveller”. Traveller comes from
an “antique land” – historical importance.

Traveller describes statue as “stone”. Literally, the

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
traveller describes the decayed state of the statue.
“vast” described the limbs as huge and
strong, while symbolically, it refers to the Symbolically, the ruined statue represents both the
strength and size of the Egyptian empire fate of the Pharaoh and his empire and, on larger
under the pharaoh’s rule. Juxtaposed with scale, the fate of all despots whose hubris blinds
“trunkless” – statue is missing its torso. Legs them to their own mortality and fallibility.
are useless without a body – statue represents
an empire and power that has long since
collapsed.
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Traveller comes from Egypt – confirmed when he
describes location as a “desert”.
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown

Face is described – literal description of

the condition of the statue that also
symbolises the state of the empire of
 Statue had an intimidating, “cold” facial expression that
featured a “frown” (line 4), “wrinkled lip” and “sneer”.
Description of face suggests that this part symbolises the
way in which the power of the empire was wielded
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Traveller praising sculptor for capturing the expression of

the pharaoh so accurately. Depiction is so skilful it shows
that the artist read or understood the psychology and
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read of true/strong feelings of the pharaoh perfectly.
passions

In facial expression traveller finds something that

has “survive[d]” in the otherwise “lifeless” statue.
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless“[P]assions”
things, have been captured so well that they
remain “stamp’d” on statue in spite of decay and
Line is ambiguous – may refer to ravages over time.
Ramses II. Could suggest that he Captured “passions” have outlasted both the
“mock’d” or felt scorn and contempt for “hand that mock’d them” and the “heart that fed”
his aubjects and used his “hand” or on them. “[H]and” – reference to sculptor
power to mistreat them. Pharaoh’s (synecdoche). “[M]ock’d”: copied or ridiculed.
“heart” could be feeding on the “[H]eart” that “fed” – reference to pharaoh in
suffering of his subjects. whose “heart” the feelings of arrogance and
That hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed; arose and where these feelings were
contempt
consumed and converted into a belief in his own
 Traveller describes words engraved on statue’s “pedestal”
or base. Pharaoh calls himself “Ozymandias” and describes
himself as the “king of Kings”. This phrase is often used in
And on the pedestal these words appear:
the Bible to refer to God. Shelley and the pharaoh
emphasise his belief in his own godlike status, which
confirms his arrogance and pride.
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Pharaoh believes the sight of the grand statue should

express his power (“Mighty”) to the extent that it
shakes the confidence of his rivals and causes them to
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
lose heart and feel despondent (“despair”) about their
own claims to greatness.
 Time has devastated and “decay[ed]” the monument and
everything around it. It is now a “colossal wreck” around
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
which “[n]othing” but the pieces he has described
“remains”. Even the might Ozymandias, who believed
himself to be “King of Kings” (line 10) is subject to the
universal law of nature.
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch farUninterrupted

away. desert surrounding the statue. Desert sands
“stretch far away” and allude to how the desert itself is a
metaphor for impermanence and time. Traveller
emphasises the smallness of the statue. Serves as a
poignant reminder of the smallness of even the mightiest
ruler and the greatest human endeavours when compared
to the vastness of the natural world and the unending
universe.
 Does the speaker agree with the
traveller?
• Some critics have suggested that the speaker is not in
agreement with the traveller because he chooses to
recount the traveller’s story directly, rather than tell it in
his own words.
• This choice, together with the traveller’s anonymity and
the use of past tense, suggests that the speaker is trying
to distance the reader from the action of the poem and
further indicates that the traveller’s tale may have a
metaphorical (and not simply literal) meaning.