Page 56 - English Expedition Class 6

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Ozymandias

P. B. Shelley

Have you ever believed in something wholeheartedly and later found that your belief is no longer as
strong as it used to be? How has the passage of time aff ected your thoughts and opinions?
1
‘Ozymandias’ was one of the names of Ramses II, a pharaoh who was famous for building great
monuments across Egypt. He also had several massive statues of himself constructed all over the
country. The poem shows us the eff ect of the sands of time on a fi ctional statue of Ozymandias.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
1 pharaoh: the title of a ruler in ancient Egypt
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, 2 visage: face
2
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 3 sneer: a mocking, disrespectful expression
4 cold command: authority without any warmth
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, 4 or aff ection
3
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read 5 colossal: extremely large, at least twice life-size
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

Th e hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
5
Th e lone and level sands stretch far away.’

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