Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1818 · 1 min read · 14 lines

In short

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a poem about a ruined statue and the failure of a ruler’s power to last. The speaker meets a traveler who describes two enormous stone legs standing without a body in the desert. Nearby, a broken face lies partly buried in sand, still showing a frown and a cold, commanding sneer. These features preserve both the ruler’s harsh feelings and the sculptor’s skill in capturing them. The traveler then reports the words on the statue’s pedestal: Ozymandias calls himself supreme among kings and challenges other powerful people to admire his achievements. The ending overturns that boast. Nothing else remains around the broken monument, and empty sands stretch into the distance.

I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand 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 readWhich 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 decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.

What it means, line by line

Lines 1 to 3: The speaker introduces a traveler from an ancient land, then lets that traveler describe the scene. Two huge stone legs stand in a desert without the rest of their body. This opening gives us the ruler’s monument as a broken object rather than a complete image of strength.

Lines 4 to 8: The statue’s broken face lies partly buried nearby. Its frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer suggest a harsh ruler used to giving orders. The sculptor understood and reproduced those feelings so well that they remain visible in stone. The carving outlasts both the hand that shaped it and the heart that held those passions.

Lines 9 to 11: The inscription names Ozymandias and presents his claim to supreme royal power. He commands other mighty people to look at his achievements and despair, suggesting that none can rival him. His confident words make the ruined condition of his statue especially striking.

Lines 12 to 14: The traveler ends by saying that nothing else remains. The enormous wreck stands amid bare sand stretching far into the distance. This contrast reverses the inscription’s boast: instead of proving lasting greatness, the scene reveals how little of the ruler’s power has survived.

Three questions to think about

How does hearing the scene through a traveler shape your experience of the ruined statue?
What do the statue’s facial features suggest about Ozymandias and the sculptor’s understanding of him?
How does the final image of empty sand change the meaning of the pedestal’s command?

Next poemAnnabel LeePoe · 1 min read

More by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Difesa della poesia e altri saggi

Read the 15-minute summary now, and order the printed book, large print too, at cost.

Try 3 months free