Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Rapid Learn 2-Minute Revision
Perfect for last-minute revision
2-Minute Revision Video
Video coming soon
In this famous sonnet, Percy Bysshe Shelley conveys a powerful message about the transience of power and glory. The poet recounts the words of a traveller from 'an antique land' who describes a ruined statue in the desert: 'two vast and trunkless legs of stone' and, half-buried in the sand nearby, a 'shattered visage' whose frown and 'sneer of cold command' the sculptor had skilfully captured. On the pedestal are the boastful words: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Yet, ironically, 'nothing beside remains', around the 'colossal Wreck', only 'the lone and level sands stretch far away'. The mighty king's empire and monuments have crumbled to dust, while the desert endures. The poem is a striking meditation on how time humbles even the proudest tyrants, and how worldly power, wealth and arrogance are ultimately impermanent.
Detailed Summary
Detailed Summary Video
Video coming soon
'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most celebrated sonnets in English. Through the image of a ruined statue in the desert, it delivers a profound message about the impermanence of power, pride and worldly glory.
The traveller's tale
The poet reports the words of 'a traveller from an antique land' (ancient Egypt). In the desert stand 'two vast and trunkless legs of stone', and near them, half-sunk in the sand, lies 'a shattered visage', a broken face whose 'frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command' reveal the arrogant, tyrannical nature of the king it once portrayed.
Shelley praises the sculptor who 'well those passions read' and stamped them so vividly on the 'lifeless things' of stone that they still survive, mocking both 'the hand that mocked them' (the sculptor) and 'the heart that fed' (the king's cruelty).
The proud inscription
On the pedestal are inscribed the king's boastful words: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!' The tyrant had meant these words as a challenge, that even the mighty should despair at his unmatched greatness and achievements.
The irony of ruin
But the words are bitterly ironic. 'Nothing beside remains': the mighty empire, the great works and the tyrant himself have all crumbled. Around 'that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.'
The proud king who thought his power eternal is now a broken statue in an endless desert. The poem's message is clear: time defeats all human power and pride, and worldly glory, wealth and tyranny are ultimately fleeting, only nature and time endure.