POETRY

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NOTES

BACKGROUND

The Ozymandias of Shelley’s poem is based on thirteenth century b.c.e.

Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. (“Ozymandias” was his name in Greek.)

According to an ancient story, one of the colossal statues he sponsored

was inscribed with this boast: “I am Ozymandias, king of kings; if

anyone wishes to know what I am and where I lie, let him surpass

me in some of my exploits.”

I met a traveler 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^1 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.

1. visage (VIHZ ihj) n. face.

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Meet the Poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), another Romantic

poet, would have inherited a seat in Parliament but

broke off relations with his father while in college.

He began writing poetry seriously at age 19. A friend

of numerous writers, he later married Mary Godwin,

who as Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Not yet 30

years old, Shelley drowned at sea while sailing a boat

in a storm.

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley

UNIT 3 Independent Learning • Ozymandias IL6