Summary of Ozymandias by P. B. Shelley

Ozymandias - Summary

P.B Shelly’s “Ozymandias” is a sonnet. Though the poem is written in the style of the sonnet, it does not follow the traditional structure of a sonnet. Ozymandias was the name by which Ramses II was known to the Greeks. He was famous for the number of architectural structures and own statues he created during his ruling period. Shelly by knowing the shattered condition of the statue wrote this poem to convey a moral that powerful people and their power is only temporary. The poem is written in first-person narration.

The poet begins the poem in a story-like manner about his meeting with a traveller from an antique land. It is understood that the traveller is from Egypt and he narrates his travel experiences to the poet. The traveller tells the speaker a story about an old, fragmented statue in the middle of the desert. He describes seeing two vast legs of a statue without the upper part of the body. Near those legs, the face of the statue, half destroyed was lying half sunk in the sand. Though the face is shattered, one could read the expressions of the face. The face looks stern and powerful, like a ruler. The traveller appreciated the sculptor who portrayed the expressions of the king well. He imitated the expressions of the king by absorbing them in his heart. Here the writer indicates the immortality and superiority of art.

The traveller tells about an inscription at the foot of the statue. The inscription reveals it as Ozymandias, king of Kings. He proudly asks the people who pass by to look at his work to know his superiority and to feel sad as no one can create such wonderful monuments as Ozymandias. Contradictory to the proud statement the next line reveals the reality of life. Nothing was remaining in the desert. The vast area was covered with destruction and decay. Bareness and the loneliness of the area indicate the powerless condition of humans.

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