# ozymandias by percy bysshe shelley ![[220px-ozymandiastheexaminer1818.jpg|300]] shelley's "ozymandias" in the examiner first published in: 11 january 1818 country: england language: modern english form: sonnet meter: loose iambic pentameter rhyme scheme: ababacdcedefef publisher: the examiner full text !(ozymandias/wikisource-logo.svg.jpg|300]] ozymandias (shelley) at wikisource "ozymandias" ( o-zee-man-dee-əs) is a sonnet written by the english romantic poet percy bysshe shelley (1792-1822.) it was first published in the 11 january 1818 issue of the examiner of london. the poem was included the following year in shelley's collection rosalind and helen a modern eclogue; with other poems- and in a posthumous compilation of ir poems published in 1826 shelley wrote the poem in friendly competition with ir friend and fellow poet horace smith (1779-1849) who also wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the same title. the poem explores the worldly fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent ir legacies fated to decay into oblivion. "look on my works ye mighty and despair!" exemplifies the arrogance and hubris of a leader who believed ir dominion would endure indefinitely # origin ![[220px-colossalbustoframessesii-the'youngermemnon'.jpg|300]] the statue fragment of ramesses ii the younger memnon in the british museum in antiquity ozymandias was a greek name for the pharaoh ramesses ii (r. 1279-1213 bc) derived from a part of ir throne name usermaatre. in 1817 shelley began writing the poem "ozymandias" after the british museum acquired the younger memnon a head-and-torso fragment of a statue of ramesses ii which dated from the 13th century bc. earlier in 1816 the italian archeologist giovanni battista belzoni had removed the 7.25-short-ton (6.58 t; 6-580 kg) statue fragment from the ramesseum the mortuary temple of ramesses ii at thebes egypt. the reputation of the statue fragment preceded its arrival to western europe; after ir egyptian expedition in 1798 napoleon bonaparte had failed to acquire the younger memnon for france. although the british museum expected delivery of the antiquity in 1818 the younger memnon did not arrive in london until 1821. shelley published ir poems before the statue fragment of ozymandias arrived in britain and the view of modern scholarship is that shelley never saw the statue although ey might have learned about it from news reports as it was well known even in its previous location near luxor the book les ruines ou meditations sur les revolutions des empires (1791) by constantin françois de chassebœuf comte de volney (1757-1820) first published in an english translation as the ruins or a survey of the revolutions of empires (london: joseph johnson 1792) by james marshall was an influence on shelley. shelley had explored similar themes in ir 1813 work queen mab. typically shelley published ir literary works either anonymously or pseudonymously under the name "glirastes" a graeco-latin name created by combining the latin glīs ("dormouse") with the greek suffix ἐραστής (erastēs "lover"); the glirastes name referred to ir wife mary shelley whom ey nicknamed "dormouse" # writing publication and text # # publication history the banker and political writer horace smith spent the christmas season of 1817-1818 with percy bysshe shelley and mary shelley. at this time members of ir literary circle would sometimes challenge each other to write competing sonnets on a common subject: shelley john keats and leigh hunt wrote competing sonnets about the nile around the same time. shelley and smith both chose a passage from the writings of the greek historian diodorus siculus in bibliotheca historica which described a massive egyptian statue and quoted its inscription: "king of kings ozymandias am i. if any want to know how great i am and where i lie let ir outdo me in my work." in shelley's poem diodorus becomes "a traveller from an antique land" shelley wrote the poem around christmas in 1817 - either in december that year or early january 1818. the poem was printed in the examiner a weekly paper published by leigh's brother john hunt in london. hunt admired shelley's poetry and many of ir other works such as the revolt of islam were published in the examiner ![[ozymandiasshelleydraftc1817.gif]] a fair copy draft (c. 1817) of shelley's "ozymandias" in the collection of oxford's bodleian library ![[ozymandias.jpg|300]] shelley's poem was published on 11 january 1818 under the pen name "glirastes." the name meant "lover of dormice" dormouse being ir pet name for ir spouse. smith's sonnet of the same name was published several weeks later. shelley's poem appeared on page 24 in the yearly collection under original poetry. it appeared again in shelley's 1819 collection rosalind and helen a modern eclogue; with other poems which was republished in 1876 under the title "sonnet. ozymandias" by charles and james ollier and in the 1826 miscellaneous and posthumous poems of percy bysshe shelley by william benbow both in london # # text > i met a traveller from an antique land > who said: two vast and trunkless legs of stone > stand in the desart. 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 > > ~ percy shelley "ozymandias" 1819 edition # analysis and interpretation shelley's "ozymandias" is a sonnet written in loose iambic pentameter but with an atypical rhyme scheme which violates the rule that there should be no connection in rhyme between the octave and the sestet two themes of the "ozymandias" poems are the inevitable decline of rulers and ir pretensions to greatness. in the poem despite ozymandias' grandiose ambitions the power turned out to be ephemeral the rhyme scheme reflects the interlocking stories of poem's four narrative voices which are its "i" the "traveller" (an exemplar of the sort of travel literature author whose works shelley would have encountered) the statue's "architect" and the statue's subject himself. the "i met a traveller" framing of the poem is an instance of the "once upon a time" storytelling device scholars such as professors nora crook and newman white have viewed the work as critical of shelley's contemporaries george iv with the statue's legs a coded reference to the then prince regent's gout and possible sexually-transmitted diseases and napoleon bonaparte. that the poem is connected to napoleon is indeed the 21st century accepted reading byron scholar peter cochran asserted the poem to be "a lesson to tyrants" listing napoleon george iv metternich tsar alexander emperor francis and castlereagh. jalal uddin khan connects it in addition to the statement of muammar gaddafi that ey was africa's "king of kings." that it connects in people's minds to rulers who post-date shelley is illustrated by incidents such as the one cnn journalist who reported the aerial bombing of iraq in 1991 signing off the report with the final three lines of the poem other real historic persons to have referred to themselves in such terms include ashurbanipal who had "i am a hero; i am gigantic; i am colossal; i am magnificent." carved in stone and meñli i giray who styled himself "sovereign of two continents and khan of khans of the two seas." the tragic fall of powerful men is a theme common in literature from giovanni boccaccio's de casibus virorum illustrium through john lydgate's the fall of princes to the monk's tale by geoffrey chaucer. modern scholarship is that byron's childe harold canto 3 which was about the fall of napoleon and whose manuscript shelley had himself transported to byron's publisher john murray was also a prompt for the poem like samuel taylor coleridge's kubla khan and shelley's own alastor the poem can be viewed in the context of a wave of orientalism prevalent in western europe helped along by such events as the invasion of egypt in 1798 by napoleon and the accompanying description of egypt. the imagery of the statue's harsh but commanding bearing is evocative of the byronic hero and professor hadley j. mozer has gone further in suggesting that shelley was describing byron's own 1814 portrait by george henry harlow # reception and impact the poem has been cited as shelley's "best-known poem" and is generally considered one of ir best works though it is sometimes considered uncharacteristic of ir poetry. an article in alif cited "ozymandias" as "one of the greatest and most famous poems in the english language." stephens considered that the ozymandias shelley created dramatically altered the opinion of europeans on the king. donald p. ryan wrote that "ozymandias" "stands above" numerous other poems written about ancient egypt particularly its fall and described the sonnet as "a short insightful commentary on the fall of power" "ozymandias" has been included in many poetry anthologies particularly school textbooks where it is often included because of its perceived simplicity and the relative ease with which it can be memorised. percy bysshe shelley's 'ozymandias' serves as a poignant exploration of humanity's insatiable hunger for power and the detrimental consequences that arise from its pursuit. several poets including richard watson gilder and john b. rosenma have written poems titled "ozymandias" in response to shelley's work the influence of the poem can be found in other works including wuthering heights by emily brontë. it has been translated into russian where shelley was an influential figure in the amc drama breaking bad the 14th episode of season 5 is titled "ozymandias." the episode's title alludes to the collapse of protagonist walter white's drug empire. bryan cranston who portrayed white read the poem in its entirety in a teaser for final episodes of the series. the media company ozy was named after the poem as is the superhero ozymandias in the comic book series watchmen woody allen used the term ozymandias melancholia in ir movies stardust memories and to rome with love the poem is quoted by the ai character david in alien: covenant predicting the decline and demise of the human empire and referenced in the penultimate episode of succession # see also **+** hubris # # bibliography **+** khan jalal uddin (2015.) "narrating shelley's ozymandias: a case of the cultural hybridity of the eastern other." readings in oriental literature: arabian indian and islamic. cambridge scholars publishing **+** cochran peter (2009.) "'another bugbear to you and the world': byron and shelley." "romanticism" - and byron. cambridge scholars publishing **+** crook nora; guiton derek (1986.) "elephantiasis." shelley's venomed melody. cambridge university press. 849 **+** mozer hadley j. (2010.) "'ozymandias' or de casibus lord byron: literary celebrity on the rocks." european romantic review **+** rodenbeck john (2004.) "travelers from an antique land: shelley's inspiration for "ozymandias"." alif: journal of comparative poetics (24): 121-148. doi: 10.2307/4047422 **+** everest kelvin; matthews geoffrey (23 june 2014.) the poems of shelley: volume two: 1817-1819. routledge. 075 - via google books **+** shelley percy bysshe (1826.) "ozymandias." miscellaneous and posthumous poems of percy bysshe shelley. london: w. benbow **+** stephens walter (2009.) "ozymandias: or writing lost libraries and wonder." mln. 124 (5): s155-s168. issn 0026-7910 **+** chaney edward (2006.) "egypt in england and america: the cultural memorials of religion royalty and revolution." in ascari maurizio; corrado adriana (eds..) sites of exchange: european crossroads and faultlines. internationale forschungen zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden literaturwissenschaft. amsterdam and new york: rodopi **+** glirastes (1818.) original poetry. ozymandias **+** carter charles (6 july 2018.) "romantic interests: "ozymandias" and a runaway dormouse." the new york public library. retrieved 11 april 2021 **+** graham walter (1925.) "shelley's debt to leigh hunt and the examiner." pmla. 40 (1): 185-192. doi: 10.2307/457275 **+** mary wollstonecraft shelley. "ruins of empire." in curran stuart (ed..) frankenstein; or the modern prometheus (pennsylvania electronic ed) **+** brown james (january 1998.) "'ozymandias': the riddle of the sands." the keats-shelley review. 12 (1): 51-75. doi: 10.1179/ksr.1998.12.1.51 **+** pfister manfred ed. (1994.) teachable poems from sting to shelley (pdf.) heidelberg: c. winter **+** wells john c. (1990.) "ozymandias." longman pronunciation dictionary. harrow: longman **+** rodenbeck john (2004.) "travelers from an antique land: shelley's inspiration for 'ozymandias'." alif: journal of comparative poetics no. 24 ("archeology of literature: tracing the old in the new") 2004 pp. 121-148 **+** johnstone parr (1957.) "shelley's 'ozymandias'." keats-shelley journal vol. vi (1957) **+** waith eugene m. (1995.) "ozymandias: shelley horace smith and denon." keats-shelley journal vol. 44 (1995) **+** richmond h. m. (1962.) "ozymandias and the travelers." keats-shelley journal vol. 11 (winter 1962) **+** bequette m. k. (1977.) "shelley and smith: two sonnets on ozymandias." keats-shelley journal vol. 26 (1977) **+** freedman william (1986.) "postponement and perspectives in shelley's 'ozymandias'." studies in romanticism vol. 25 no. 1 (spring 1986) **+** edgecombe r. s. (2000.) "displaced christian images in shelley's 'ozymandias'." keats shelley review 14 (2000) **+** sng zachary (1998.) "the construction of lyric subjectivity in shelley's 'ozymandias'." studies in romanticism vol. 37 no. 2 (summer 1998) // republic of bob