“Ozymandias” Introduction

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“Ozymandias” Summary

“Ozymandias” Themes

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  The Transience of Power

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• 

  The Power of Art

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• 

  Man Versus Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Ozymandias”

• Lines 1-2

  I met a traveller from an antique land,
  Who said

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-3

  —“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
  Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-8

  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;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  And on the pedestal, these words appear:
  My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
  Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

  Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
  Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
  The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

  

  

  

  

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“Ozymandias” Symbols

• 

  Sand

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• 

  The Statue

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“Ozymandias” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Irony

  

  

  

  

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“Ozymandias” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Antique
• Trunkless
• Visage
• Passions
• Stamped
• Mocked
• Pedestal
• Ozymandias
• Remains

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Ozymandias”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Ozymandias” Speaker

“Ozymandias” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Ozymandias”

More “Ozymandias” Resources

• External Resources

  • British Library's "Introduction to Ozymandias" — The British Library has a short introduction to "Ozymandias" that includes excerpts of potential sources for the poem, historical information about Ramses II (Ozymandias), as well as details about Shelley's radical politics.

  • Draft of "Ozymandias" — The Bodleian Library at Oxford University digitized and transcribed an early draft of "Ozymandias" from 1817 and made it available online. 

  • "Ozymandias": Original Printing — Shelley first published "Ozymandias" in The Examiner in 1818, under the name "Glirastes." This is a scan of the first edition printing.

  • British Museum: The Younger Memnon — This website shows the statue of Ramses II (Ozymandias), the discovery of which may have inspired Shelley's poem.

  • Breaking Bad and Ozymandias — The tv show Breaking Bad featured the poem "Ozymandias" in a trailer for the final season. The BBC explains why and embeds the trailer in the webpage. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley

  • England in 1819

  • Love’s Philosophy

  • Music, When Soft Voices Die

  • Mutability

  • Ode to the West Wind

  • Song to the Men of England

  • Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples

  • The Question

  • To a Skylark