Describe The Poem "Ozymandias" By Shelley.

This poem shows the passing of human pomp and power. It tells that glory and greatness, pelf and poor all are the slaves of death. The statue of "The King of Kings" is now broken and neglected. But it bears witness to the futile attempt of man to keep alive the memory of his greatness. He forgets that the hammers of the builder are always succeeded by the hammers of decay and destruction.

Once the poet met a traveller who was returning from the ancient land of Egypt. The traveller told the poet of a broken statue that he had seen in desert. The statue was of an old Egyptian King, Ozymandias. It was now in a dilapidated condition.
Only the big and trunk less legs of the statue were standing. The head was broken and was lying near half sunken in sand.

The sculptor had very successfully showed the haughty looks of the King. On the pedestal was an inscription that showed his pride and vanity. But the head of the King that used to wear a crown was now lying alone. There could be seen nothing around it except the vast desert.

The poem shows Shelley's scorn and hatred for the despots. Shelley was a great revolutionary poet. He was deadly against oppression and suppression. He wanted to break all chains of social and political slavery so that man might regain his natural grace and dignity. A critic says that liberty of the down-trodden and hope for the expression are the things that fire his songs.

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According to a first-century B.C. Greek historian, the largest statue in Egypt was inscribed: "I am Ozymandias, king of kings; if anyone wishes to know what I am and where I lie, let him surpass me in some of my exploits." Ozymandias was the Greek name for Ramses II, a 13th-century B.C. pharoah and the greatest monument builder of them all.Shelley took both of these facts and created one of the most chilling andsuccint comments in English poetry on the brevity of fame and mighty deeds.

Ozymanidias' "cold sneer" on his visage half sunk in the endless sands speaks through the centuries of his greatness. But the irony is, for all of its tributes, the symbol has become meaningless.Shelley captures the folly of all human endeavour, even that of kings. Our lives are but "a colossal Wreck" -- even those of the mightiest kings -- about which "the lone and level sands [of time] stretch far away." In other words%

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