Ozymandias | Poem Summary & Analysis

Ozymandias is one of the more popular poems by Percy Shelley. It is a sonnet that takes the form of an anecdote told by a traveler who comes across a colossal fallen statue in the desert. The statue has been linked to Ramses II, an Egyptian king or pharaoh, who was named Ozymandias by the ancient Greeks.  

The poem is a kind of allegory on how political power, regardless of how tyrannical it is, does not last the ravages of time and nature. The poem, despite having a deep political message, keeps an appropriate distance from the commentary being made, and its political message comes across as measured, unbiased, and balanced.

In short, Shelley does not intrude on the poem with his political opinions or biases. Instead, he allows the scenery of the desolate landscape in juxtaposition with the king’s boastful proclamations of power that will last forever speak for itself. 

Image of the Younger Memnon Statue that inspired the poem Ozymandias.

Full text of the poem

Here is the full text of the poem: 

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 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.”

Ozymandias" (/ˌɒzɪˈmændiəs/ OZ-im-AN-dee-əs) was written in the form of a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley and was first published in the January 11, 1818 issue of the London magazine — The Examiner.

Summary and rhetorical analysis 

The poem is a Shakepearean sonnet written in iambic pentameter. It is divided into the octave (first eight lines of a sonnet) and sestet (last six lines of a sonnet). Traditionally, these two divisions represent a separation.

In the case of Ozymandias, the first eight lines or Octave give us a grand view of the setting, the fallen statue with the legs still standing and face half buried in sand. The sestet focuses on the inscription on the statue and contrasts the boast of the king with the emptiness of the desert landscape. 

The entire premise of the poem is based on the literary device of allusion. In this case, historical and classical allusions. Allusion refers to quick reference to a historical or classical event or figure in a work of literature. In the case of Ozymandias, the historical reference was to the statue of Ramses II, known in England at the time as the “Younger Memnon.” 

The classical allusion is a reference to the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus. The entire poem is based on a passage from his Bibliotheca historica, where he describes a colossal Egyptian statue with the following inscription: 

King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work.

Shelly uses his poetic imagination to transport Diodorus from Ancient Greek times to Shelley’s current era, where Diodorus is a modern traveler recounting his encounter with the statue to Shelley. 

The anecdote is also a literary device used as one of the primary vehicles of the poem. Anectode refers to a brief story that is used to teach a moral or make a point. This seemingly unassuming story of a traveler coming across a broken statue in the desert makes the point that tyrannical power never lasts.

Shelley was a strident critic of the British government of the time, which he saw as a non-democratic and tyrannical power. The anecdote has the advantage of protecting the author from any political repercussions of criticizing modern-day authorities since the state entity featured in the poem is an ancient Egyptian power that has ceased to exist for millennia. Intelligent readers would be able to connect his subtle critique of tyrannical might with his views on the modern government.

Besides allusions, the other major rhetorical devices used in the poem are irony and juxtaposition. Let’s first look at the context and setting of the poem to explain this. The poem is based on a report from “a traveller from an antique land” (Line 1).

The traveller speaks about a broken statue made up of two components — “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone” and its face that has fallen off and is now half buried in the sands of the Egyptian desert. 

We are told of the inscription on the pedestal. It is the boast of a king taking pride in his unquestioned power and might: “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

This is contrasted with the surroundings. The statue is located in a kingdom that has ceased to exist for ages. The only realm left for the king to rule over now are “the lone and level sands.” 

The irony of the poem lies in the contrast between the boast of the kin as written in the royal inscription and the desolate and empty nature of the landscape in which it is located.

There is a moral being taught here. Namely, that earthly power no matter how tyrannical and great will eventually fall victim to the forces of history. The juxtaposition of the king’s greatness as depicted in the colossal nature of the statue and the boast written in the inscription with the emptiness of the desert speaks for itself.

Another poetic device — if it can be called such — that should be mentioned here is the dedicated authorial distance. The poet restrains himself from any direct political commentary. Percy Shelley was an outstanding critic of the contemporary ruler of England, King George the III. 

This is illustrated in his poem “England in 1819”. The poem is a withering attack on the corruption, oppression, and tyranny that Shelley associates with the reign of King George III.  So, we know that Shelley was unafraid to make direct political criticism. 

We could say that the poem serves as a sort of cautionary tale or allegory for the corrupting nature of power and how that power no matter how vast and tyrannical will eventually fall victim to the ravages of time and history. 

Now, let’s discuss the form of the poem. The poem is a sonnet written in loose iambic pentameter. The rhyming pattern is not typical of a Shakespearean sonnet, which has the following pattern: ABABCDCDEFEFGG. 

Instead, the rhyming scheme is ABABACDCEDEFEF. The rhymes are often only half or slant rhymes. For example, “stone/frown” (Lines 2 and 4) and “appear/despair” (Lines ).

The use of sound-based poetic devices

The poet also makes clever use of several sound-based literary devices or poetic devices. That includes alliteration and assonance. We see an example of assonance from the very first line of Ozymandias. 

“An antique land” repeats the short vowel “a” sound in the syllable “an” in these three words. This tends to have a sonorous effect. The use of the word “antique” is also a somewhat novel usage to describe land or a country. 

However, considering that he is talking about the land of Egypt, which is associated with ancient monuments like the pyramids, it seems highly appropriate. 

The repetition of the short vowel sound in the syllable “an” stretches out all the way into Line four with words like “stand” and “sand” in Line 4, and “sunk” in the beginning of Line 4. 

The poet also makes effective use of alliteration, that is, the repetition of close consonant sounds at the beginning of words. The most remarkable instance of this is Lines 13-14. Words like “boundless and bare”  and “lone and level” are used to describe the vast and desolate landscape of desert sand. 

They do a good job of depicting just how vast and empty the landscape is. In addition to this, the poet makes good use of the caesura, that is, dramatic pauses in the middle of a line of poetry.

The allegory being illustrated in the tale of Ozymandias gives us literal pause to think about the temporal nature of power and the irony of how that power eventually falls victim to history and nature no matter how awesome or awful. 

Line 7 is the first instance of a caesura being used: “Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.” The pause occurs between “survive” and “stamped.” It serves to emphasize the irony of human emotions or passion still being apparent on something that is lifeless. 

The second notable example of a caesura is Line 12: 

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The dramatic pause after “remains” prepares us for the unspoken irony that follows. The king’s bold proclamation of limitless power that will last forever in the preceding lines is now contrasted with the “boundless and bare” emptiness of the desert. 

Again, the caesura is used for emphasis. But what is being emphasized here is the contrast between the king’s bold claim and the nothingness and desolation of the desert that his legacy and kingdom have been reduced to. 

Themes in Ozymandias

The most prominent theme of Ozymandias is on the temporal nature of earthly or political power. A tyrannical king who ruled over a vast kingdom is portrayed as having an inheritance of nothing but a sandy wasteland. 

We can go so far as to say that the poem is allegorical in its meaning. Percy Shelley was quite an outspoken critic of King George III of England. He saw the king as a half-mad  and corrupt tyrant, and said as much in his poem “England in 1819.”

In Ozymandias, Shelly is much more understated in his criticism. In  “England in 1819,” Shelley describes the king thus in the first line: 

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king

There is no such strident and direct criticism in Ozymandias. Shelly instead uses the landscape and juxtaposition to make his point about the fleeting nature of tyrannical power. 

Another lesser theme, which is not given full treatment in the poem is the nature of the relationship between the artist and tyrant. This is reflected in Lines 4–8:

       . . . 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

The poet here is describing how accurately the artist was able to capture the passions or emotions of the king as expressed through his face. It is not clear what point is being made here, but we can attempt to get at the intended meaning.

Line 8 in particular is interesting. “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.” This may be seen as a description of the artist taking pride in their ability to capture the likeness of the king. 

In short, we can say that the artist is being complicit in holding up the vanity and by extension the tyranny of a king who believes that his might and power could last forever. 

This is significant considering the role that Percy Shelley sees himself playing as poet in being critical of abusive political power. These four lines can be interpreted tentatively as a criticism of poets/artists/intellectuals who ally themselves with corrupted power instead of speaking out against it. 

A comparative analysis

It would be useful to compare Ozymandias with another political poem by Shelley, namely “England in 1819.” Here is the full text of the poem: 

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,—

Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow

Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring,—

Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,

But leech-like to their fainting country cling,

Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,—

A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,—

An army which liberticide and prey

Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,—

Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;

Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed,—

A Senate—Time's worst statute unrepealed,—

Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may

Burst to illumine our tempestuous day.

Shelley in this poem is direct and strident in his criticism. He first goes after the king in the very first line of the poem as I explained earlier in the previous section. Then, he aims for the elites or the princes, whom he describes as “the dregs of their dull race.” This is then followed by criticism of the army, which is described as a two-edged sword committing crimes against liberty (or liberticide) and preying on the innocent people that they should be protecting instead.

This is followed by an attack on the “Christless” and “Godless” Church and the Senate. Astonishingly, the poem ends in hope by describing all these corrupt state institutions as “graves from which a glorious Phantom” (Line 13) of something better may arise. 

England in 1819, in fact, was inspired by the Peterloo Massacre. The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on August 16, 1819. A crowd of nearly 60,000 had gathered to demand parliamentary reform, when they were charged by calvary, leading to eighteen people dying and between 400 and 700 being injured. 

Therefore, the poem, unlike Ozymandias, was a direct political statement to a specific political event. Ozymandias is much more careful and abstract. Ofcourse, the poem could be interpreted as an allegorical tale against the tyranny of political rulers like King George III. 

The poem was written before the Peterloo Massacre. However, Shelley would have been quite familiar with the corrupt nature of King George III’s reign by the time he published Ozymandias in 1818. 

This could explain the nature of Ozymandias in terms of perspective. Shelley uses distance and objectivity to make his political commentary on the nature of tyranny. He does so by telling the poem from the perspective of an imagined traveler from the past — Diodorus — telling him about this peculiar sight in the desert.

In a sense, the poet uses the narrative voice of the traveler as a kind of layer between him and the point being made in the poem. This results in a kind of detached tone and understatement. 

The traveler seems on the surface to be simply describing a peculiarity that any tourist would be interested in —- a massive statute lying in the ruins of a desolate desert. 

However, the poem is really a subtle allegory, which relies on juxtaposing the arrogant boast of a tyrannical king with the vastness of the empty desert that ends up swallowing his legacy and empire.

Also, the way Ozymandias ends simultaneously differs from and mirrors the ending of “England in 1819.” England in 1819 ends on a somewhat hopeful note that something good can come out of the corruption and decay of power that George III reign’s represent. 

On the other had, Ozymandias ends with an emphasis on just how temporal tyrannical political power is. In short, it will eventually come to an end. While both poems see that tyranny will eventually die, Ozymandias focuses on the desolate emptiness that follows the collapse of such power, whereas England in 1819 focuses on the vague hope that this current corrupt power will eventually be replaced by something better. 

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Historical-biographical context 

The original inspiration for Ozymandias was a friendly contest between Shelley and a fellow poet and friend, Horace Smith. They each were to create a poem on the subject Ramesses II, a famous Egyptian pharaoh from the 13th century BC.   

Interest in Ramses II was inspired by the Egyptomania that followed Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt in 1798–1801. Shelley started work on the poem in the year 1817. In particular, the Younger Memnon — the statue of Ramses II, which features in the poem was set to arrive in England, and its anticipation was causing a stir. 

The statue had been acquired by the Italian archeologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni from Thebes, Egypt. The Younger Memnon eventually arrived in London in 1821. The statue weighed 6.58 tons or 6,580 kg. 

In addition to the Younger Memnon, the mention of Ozymandias by the Greek historian Diodorus was also an inspiration for the poem. The direct quote of the king couldn’t have been from a direct translation from the inscription. 

At the time, Europeans would not have been able to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics as the Rosetta Stone had yet to be deciphered. The Rosetta Stone was an artifact that played a huge role in linguists and archaeologists being able to read Egyptian writing. 

This means that the quote used by Shelley in the poem was from the Greek historian Diodorus as mentioned earlier. However, this definitely sounded like something the real Ramses would have said based on the actual inscriptions that we do have of him.

From a historical perspective, he is famous for his battle against the Hittite empire, Known as the “Battle of Kadesh,” which ended in a stalemate. However, he describes it as a complete victory, which he alone without help from his forces was able to achieve: 

My majesty caused the forces of the foes from Khatti to fall on their faces, one upon the other, as crocodiles fall, into the water of the Orontes. I was after them like a griffin; I attacked all the countries, I alone. For my infantry and my chariotry had deserted me; not one of them stood looking back. As I live, as Re loves me, as my father Atum favors me, everything that my majesty has told I did it in truth, in the presence of my infantry and my chariotry.

Shelly wouldn’t have had access to this information. However, he could not have chosen a better king to portray as a reflection of megalomaniacal power than Ramses II. There are a few inaccuracies in the poem. For example, the face of the pharaoh is described as  “a shattered visage” with a “frown . .. and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” (Lines 4–5).

There are few Egyptian statues of Egyptian kings that would look like this. In fact, the Younger Memnon statue is defined by its peaceful and serene smile, resembling that of Buddha statues. 

Egyptian kings were seen as Gods, and it would have been unbecoming for them to express emotions such as anger on their faces. Therefore, we could say that the passion on the king’s face was more of Shelly’s poetic imagination. 

The poem is an excellent example of Shelley taking his interest in politics and sublimating it into fine art that rose above personal politics. Instead of directly speaking out against political tyranny, he uses his craft to create an understated and quiet work of art using simplistic language to deliver a profound message on how abusive political power always comes to naught. 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, May 05). Ozymandias: Poem Summary & Analysis. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/ozymandias-poem-summary-analysis