Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Poem Analysis & Interpretation

Ozymandias — Percy Bysshe Shelley

Voice

Voice: Several voices appear in this poem. It begins in the first person, and the poet introduces a traveler who tells the story in the third person.

Mood

Mood: (Nostalgic?) Ironic. At the beginning of the poem the mood is narrative and natural; there are no expressed feelings (lines 1–5). Lines 6–8 present irony. In the final six lines the mood is arrogance.

Summary

Summary: The speaker reports what an exotic traveler told him about a monument in the middle of the desert: the broken statue, the king's pride, and the irony of his ruined legacy.

Topic

Topic: SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI (Así pasa la gloria del mundo). El tiempo que pasa.

Parts

Parts:

• Lines 1–2: Introduction: elements of the story; temporal distance.
• Lines 2–4: Ruins (broken statue). (Sic Transit)
• Lines 4–9: The pride of the king. (Gloria Mundi)
• Lines 10–11: Pride (Gloria Mundi)
• Lines 12–14: Ruins (Sic Transit)

Metric

Metric: The poem is a sonnet with 14 lines. Rhyme: ABABACDCEDEFEF. Iambic pentameter.

Line-by-Line Notes and Analysis

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Line 2: The traveler describes two "legs of stone" with no torso—our first indication that the statue is partly destroyed.

Line 4: The head of the statue is "shatter'd" and partially buried in the sand. Visage stands in for the statue's head. (The use of one part of any object or entity to describe the whole is called synecdoche.)

Lines 6–7: The sculptor was skilled at representing Ramses's "passions" in the statue; these passions are "stamp'd" or engraved in stone. Even though the stones are lifeless, they paradoxically give life to the passions that still survive. There are three words in these two lines that start with "s"; the use of multiple words starting with the same letter is called alliteration.

Line 8: The "hand that mock'd" is another reference to the sculptor and the work of imitation he performs. "Hand" is another example of synecdoche, in which a part (the hand) stands in for the whole (the sculptor).

Line 8: The "heart" is the organ most often linked to feelings and passions; it "fed" the passions depicted in the statue. Because the heart didn't literally "feed" the passions, "fed" here is a metaphor.

Line 9: Describes the base of the statue and the boast engraved on it.

Line 11: The inscription refers to "works," which might be a reference to other statues, works of art, or monuments commissioned by Ozymandias. This line is ambiguous: Ozymandias could be telling the mighty to despair because their works will never be as good as his, or he could be telling them to despair because their works will all eventually crumble just like his. Ozymandias clearly doesn't intend the second meaning, but it is present regardless. That's called dramatic irony.

Line 13: The poem again reminds us that there is a huge statue in the desert that is now a "colossal wreck."

Key Terms and Devices

• Synecdoche: Part stands for the whole (e.g., "visage," "hand").
• Alliteration: Repetition of initial consonant sounds (e.g., the "s" words in lines 6–7).
• Metaphor: Figurative language (e.g., "heart" that "fed" the passions).
• Dramatic irony: When the intended meaning differs from the underlying reality.

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