Summary of ozymandias full#

Here the poem reveals its anti-tyrannical and anti -autocratic nature and also gives us the impression that the artist and art are also time-bound and subject to death and decay. The whole poem is a satirical piece that is directed to mocking at Ozymandias's foolish presumption and supposition that his power was permanent, After reading the poem, we form the view that the interest of the poem is not to give the historical detail of the ruler, but to imply the character of Ozymandias, in special relation to what has happened in subsequent ages. We move from the broken fragments to what is written on the pedestal of the statue that speaks of the hastiness and the pride of the ruler. The way the sculptor is said to have made the statue the reader forms the opinion that the ruler, proud as he was of his authority, must have been bad-tempered, heartless and cruel. He wished to be immortal by having his great statue built up which now appears only in the form of remains. Ozymandias's physical power was long gone to his death. Now it is all bare in this desert land that stretches far. One can still see the 'colossal wreck' - that vast destruction brought about by time. Everything is bound to disappear from the face of the earth. Even the mighty people will be disappointed at seeing the grand power and authority I exercise.'īut nothing remains beside. One can still see such words on the pedestal of the statue. He must have given his whole heart and imagination in the formation of that statue.

Summary of ozymandias full#

The sculptor in fact mocked out the tyrant and gave full expression of all that the tyrant signified for him in the form of a grand and imposing statue that now is shattered into pieces and that now appears in its half-sunk and almost forgotten relic form. The sculptor stamped the ruthless ruler’s cruel nature on his statue. He was passion-frenzy in dictating others. The sculptor knew well the nature of the tyrant. The face also shows the sneer and the cold command of emperor Ozymandias. Also see the face that now is half-sunk shattered to pieces. Just see these two vast and bodiless legs of the stone statue standing in the desert. The narrator reports what the traveler said to him. The poem begins with the narrative form and includes the description of the statue/pedestal by the traveler. The poem is written almost like a sonnet with the rhyming words at the beginning and the end of it. He now stands by the trunk less statue of the emperor Ozymandias, which lies in the vast desert landscape and tells the speaker the artistry of Ozymandias's statue and the inscription on its pedestal.