Albert wrote 'Interpreting Shelley's 'Ozymandias' as sculptural poetry enhances our understanding of the sonnet while enriching our awareness of the tradition'. Labriola in his article 'Sculptural Poetry: The visual Imagination of Michelangelo, Keats, and Shelley' Labriola discussed Ozymandias as a poem concerned with the theme of sculpting and discussion of the art of interpretation. Shelley also linked 'to the theme of the perseverance of art over time' as Anne Janowitz wrote.Īnother critic Albert C. But still his 'frown' and 'sneer of cold command ' survives through the time. While Ozymandias was alive he was respected and his architectures and other works were celebrated just only because of his pride no one can stand and dare to talk before him, but after his death even his statue ruined, it was 'rotten' in the sand like a corpse in a 'grave'. Shelley used the span of time to locate both the pride and fall of Ozymandias. Anne wrote that 'Shelley deftly evokes both the pride and the fall of this Egyptian ruler…….'. Anne Janowitz in her article 'Shelley'sMonument to ‘Ozymandias' ', discussed the poem within in the context of the 19th century interest in Egyptology. There are certain critics who looked upon the thematic concepts like Egyptology and art and sculpture in Shelley's poem Ozymandias. Even though time passed and the statue of Ozymandias ruined, the characterization of a tyrant king one gets from Shelley's poem remains the same. The decaying statue of Ozymandias is a representation of the same sand clock that is used to measure time. Thus, art remains the storage of truth despite of Ozymandias's obsession of showing his achievements the artists captured his real character. Another meaning of 'visage' indicates the brilliant job done by the sculptor who has made the outward reality and falsehood of Ozymandias on a stone statue. The multiple meanings of this words used by Shelley can be who was arrogant, mean and tyrannical. The actual meaning of the word is 'face' but here it is used as an aspect to represent a person's true character and emotions. the use of the word 'visage' in the poem Ozymandias also plays differently.

Shelley begins the poem by writing 'I met a traveler from an antique land' creates doubts in the readers that whether the traveler is a tourist or a time traveler from the original inhabitant, as the traveler refer the land as 'ancient' not with its original 'name'. To ‘mock' also means to treat an object, thought or a person worthless. Shelley used the verb 'to mock' in Ozymandias in the sense of a ‘pun' meaning- using a word with similar sound for a multiplicity of meaning. Thus, the poem Ozymandias is concerned with such themes and whether the efforts will be remembered or not. There is always an inscribed construction of funerary monuments like pyramids and tombs. There was a concept of how a person will survive afterlife, so Ancient Egyptians used to bury resources, jewels, wealth and things of daily use like comb and spoons according to their status and position in the society. Ancient Egyptian culture is obsessed with the belief of death and afterlife. Shelley's own interest in Egyptology reflected in his poems like Alastor, or, of The Spirit Solitude. When Egypt was invaded by Napoleon in 1798 and Mohammad Ali in 1806 more and more artistic works established in Egypt.

In the 1820s when Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered one of Egyptian writing engraved on Rosetta stone awakens an interest in this ancient culture. With the starting up of 19th century a great interest developed in ancient Egyptian culture which marked the beginning of modern Egyptology.

Get your price Thematic Analysis of Ozymandias Thus, the discovery of statue fragments inspired Shelley. Thus, there were two sonnets published with similar title Ozymandias in Leigh Hunt's Examiner, among the two Shelley's Ozymandias was two one to gain popularity. After the discovery of fragments of statues of Ramesses II, Percy Shelley and his friend, the poet Horace Smith, challenged each other to write a poem on the same discovery, on the same subject, title, theme and form. According to the second book of Bible, 'Exodus', Ramesses was a pharoh at the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Ramesses was a warrior king and he built up many temples, statues and other monuments in his lifetime, though his exact age of death remain uncertain. Ramesses II was born in 1314 BC and ruled Egypt for 66 years. Another name of Ramesses II is Ozymandias. As in the year 1817 news came up that archeologists had discovered fragments of the statue of Ramesses II and sending the pieces to the British museum. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias was first published in the year 1818.

Ozymandias analysis