Mary Kom class 5

Ozymandias 

Percy Bysshe Shelley 

Through the poem, the poet wants to convey a deep message that nothing remains permanent in this world, everything gets reduced to dust with the passage of time. So it would be a futile attempt to immortalise oneself by any means no matter how powerful one is. Here, the poet says that he meets a traveller who tells him that he has been to a land with deep historical background. The traveller, then, describes the the things he saw there. He says that two large legs without a body are there in the desert. Here the poet comprehends that it is useless to boast of the power one possesses, as everything is transient in this world. Near them a shattered or broken face, half sunk, lies in the desert.

The shattered or broken face of the King reflects  an anger of expression; and the wrinkled lip shows that he was filled with pride during his time. He further says that he always looked down on others; and that he was also merciless, cruel, and unemotional. The description of the arrogant king shows that the sculptor must be aware of the his cruel passions very well, which still  survive on the broken statue after being stamped  by many a man. The hand of the sculptor mocks those feelings and the heart that fed those destructive feelings by carving them perfectly on the statue.

Here the traveller presents his own opinion about the sculptor. The words inscribed on the pedestal of the statue reflect pride, arrogance, and power of the king. He (king) boasts himself saying that however hard the rulers try after his reign, they will not be able to surpass his power and glory, and at the end they will have to repent on their attempts. This part of the poem presents the thought of the person who is filled with pride. Through these lines, the poet wants to say that nothing remains permanent in this world; everything gets reduced to dust with the passage of time.Even the most powerful king gets reduced to dust over a period of time. The same thing happens with the massive statue of Ozymandias that gets broken by the effect of time; and now it’s lying in the solitary and level sands that stretch far away in the desert.