“Ozymandias”(Human’s pride and Transience of time )by Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Ozymandias” was written in 1817 during a friendly competition with Horace Smith

(English financier, poet and novelist). A “classic” poem which has been studied and

dissected countless times by piers and student of English literature and language since

it’s publication. Leigh Hunt’s Examiner published it in 1818. He was inspired by the

arrival of the statue of “younger Memnon” Ramses II in Britain.

According to Virgil “Time passes irrevocably.” Shelley is alluring to the prospect that

the past doesn’t change the future or the present. The theme of the poem is the

transience of power and the ephemeral nature of materialism, it highlights past

memories of magnificence and today’s laden ruins of the king’s statue. Although ozy’s

shortsighted pride seems amusing, we must realize that all of the lessons are applicable

to today. This sonnet shows that all of mankind’s works, including our social structures,

will eventually become part of history. The central theme is a man’s hubris (excessive

pride), a Greek term used as the noun for the cause of the antagonists downfall in

Greek plays.

In the first 7 lines the narrator passes on an interesting story to a traveler describing

the “vast and trunk less legs” of an otherwise collapsed statue. Near the feet and legs is

a shattered visage (the statue’s shattered head). The lips tell of a martial figure – cold

and sneering.  From there, a third figure enters the sonnet. First is the ‘I‘ of the sonnet,

second is the ‘traveler’, and third is the “sculptor” –who must have read “those

passions” well. There is an interesting juxtaposition in Shelley’s use of the word

“survive”, to live and remain alive and “lifeless things” past and dead. What does

Shelley mean? These lines makes sense if Shelley means that “those passions” survive

in our own day — they “yet survive” — those same passions that are stamped “on these

lifeless things”. That makes perfect sense to me, especially since Shelley had a strong

political ideology for his time. Some of his most scathing poems are critical of the

aristocracy.Shelley knows full well that the tyrannical and cruel passions of Ozymandias

live on in others. His sonnet seems to serve as a warning to those who think there’s any

future or immortality in such politics.

In line 8 there is a remarkable twist . Since it’s the shattered face that the traveler has

been describing, the hand must be the artist’s, rather than Ozymandias’. This is

important because it expresses the ambiguity of the earlier lines. If the arrogance and

cruelty of Ozymandias “survive” on those lifeless things, it is because of the heart and

hand of the artist. Art has given them life, not the arrogance or pride of Ozymandias. It

is the art that has survived and it continues to communicate this to the traveler and to

the “I” of the sonnet. Or another interpretation is that the artist’s hand mocked the

tyrant’s pretenses, which his heart (his artistic passions) fed through his stonework. 

“Ozy” comes from the Greek “ozium”which means “air” and “mandius” comes from

“mandate” which means “to rule” so Ozymandias is the ruler of air, or the ruler of

nothing. In the “Apologeticus”, Tertilius says brilliant words which have a lot in common

with the theme of this poem:“Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori!" (Remember

that you are a man! Remember that you'll die!").”King of kings” could represent nature

itself because nature never disappears and it shows an immortality not shown by kings

or kingdoms. The final is fairly straightforward but the genius is in the irony.

Ozymandias’ mighty words, rather than attesting to Ozymandias’ immortal splendor,

affirm the very opposite of his intentions. The arrogance of man is impermanent. The

accouterments of Ozymandias’ power and wealth have crumbled into a desolate ruin.

By way of comparison, Smith’s sonnet from my point of view is better. His reference to

the hunter “holding the wolf in chase” was a fatalistic view that one day a king or

military leader would be roaming the world and waging war (chasing the wolf), and find

the ruins of London. Shelley carefully focuses the reader’s attention, avoiding

superfluous information (which includes personification), Smith doesn’t. His mention of

Babylon, already rich with associations, further dilutes the centrality of Ozymandias’

ruins. In comparing Ozymandias’ ruined city to Babylon, Smith is factual and names the

city Babylon, not in Ozymandias’ where Shelley retains a certain anonymity. In Shelley’s

sonnet, Ozymandias’ ruins stand alone and incomparable.

I’m not a great fan of Shelley in general, this is not like Shelley’s usual topics that

deals with expression, beauty, love or imagination.I continue to find the second quatrain

to sound stilted; its meaning, moreover, remains much too obscure for my taste

however his sonnet is written to express to the speaker that possessions don't mean

immortality . All the great rulers in history tried to perpetuate their memories by building

mammoth statues. Their pride and arrogance knew no bounds as they erect these huge

statues and vainly inscribed bombastic claims about the superiority of the kingdoms

which they were ruling. According to Ludwig Borne “Nothing is lasting but change;

nothing perpetual but death.” they did this without realizing that they are only ordinary

mortals who had to return to dust along with all their endeavors.

I also think it is a strong critic for a time where Empires ruled over the five continents

and a way for Shelley also to express his political ideologies of his times. “My name

….and despair” no matter how much Shelley was always in opposition to despotic rule

and often hailed and commended the French revolution. In the sonnet and through our

own knowledge and experience there is a strong sense that “history repeats itself”.

To conclude I feel that Smiths’ sonnet shows more realism whilst Shelley retains poetic

justice.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jan/28/percy-

bysshe-shelley-poetry http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=9362 http://njbrepository.blogspot.ro/2013/06/ozymandias-by-percy-bysshe-

shelley.html Cameron Kenneth Neil, Percy Bysshe Shelley: Selected Poetry and Prose,

(pg. 497)