English Assignment 2

Ozymandias

Shelley’s “Ozymandias” makes a statement about the impermanence of human accomplishments. The poem features a traveller recounting a visit to an ancient land where the ruins of a colossal statue of Ozymandias, an Egyptian king, lie in the desert. Shelly draws a very striking contrast between the dilapidated state of the statue and the empty, lifeless surroundings that the traveller saw and the “great works” by the “king of kings” that the inscription insisted he had to be awestruck by. The sonnet is steeped with irony, as evidenced by Shelly’s description of the bust of Ozymandias sneering mockingly at the traveller while lying half sunk in the sand, severed from its body, not even among ruins that could testify to the king’s claimed monumental works.

This highlights the futility of human pride and ambition in the face of time and nature. Although the poem focuses on a king’s lost fortune, I think Shelly is trying to make a broader statement - not just physical structures, but everything humans create - even knowledge - is destined to be reduced to nothing. While the inexorable march of time and entropy consumes the maker first, it eventually gets to what they left behind, reducing even their most celebrated achievements to dust.

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