Percy Shelley's Ozymandias
The Romantic Period began in the early nineteenth century; it radically changed the way people perceived themselves and the nature around them. Romanticism allowed people to get away from the constrained, logical views of life, and concentrate instead on the emotional side of life. Out of this time period stemmed many great poets. Their works concentrated around the themes of beauty, nature, political liberty, and imagination. Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of these poets. Born in 1792 Shelley led an intriguing, turbulent life. In 1817 Shelley and his friend Horace Smith had a contest to see who could write the best poem about Egypt. Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" was a direct result of this contest, and it soon became a popular work in Romantic literature. When analyzed, the poem "Ozymandias" contains many poetical elements, and also conveys many different themes that associate with the romantic period. This poem is actually a story inside a story. It is about a man who meets a traveler, and this traveler tells him a tale. It is a tale about a great king named Ozymandias. This king was arrogant, and believed that his great kingdom would last forever. By the time the traveler came across the kingdom, it was destroyed, an
d fragments of a statue were all that remained. The lone and level sands stretch far away" "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay These lines give us the image that nature is constant, and will live on regardless of human interaction. Percy Shelley uses alliteration in this poem to emphasize important sections of the poem. For example, he uses the pair of words "sands stretch" to emphasize how significant nature is. Shelley conveys the belief that a ruler will not be remembered by how terrifying and powerful he was. For example, the glory of the king Ozymandias, who was once great, is long forgotten. But perhaps Shelley is trying to express that a ruler will be remembered for his compassion and devotion to his people. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, Ironically this statement still has meaning, although different to what the king meant. In different context it can mean that despise all the power and wealth a person has, material possessions will not last forever. The tone of this poem is one of lamentation and irony. It is sorrowful because the greatness and kingdom of a ruler is gone and forgotten. However, at the bottom of this sorrow, the poem holds great lessons to people who read it. This sonnet expresses
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Approximate Word count = 847
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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