OZYMANDIAS BY Percy Bysshe Shelly Fear not for

OZYMANDIAS BY Percy Bysshe Shelly “Fear not for the future, weep not for the past. ”

Percy Bysshe Shelly • 1792, England • 1822, Italy • English Romantic poet

Percy Bysshe Shelly • was against English politics and conservational ideas • William Butler, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning

Percy Bysshe Shelly • Mythological themes and figures from Greek poetry

Ozymandias • Traveler from an antique land • Tells a story about Colossal Wreck

Ozymandias • Two vast legs • Stone head

Ozymandias Shattered visage frown Sneer of cold command Wrinkled

Ozymandias • Emotions survive stamped on the lifeless statue.

Ozymandias My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair !

Ozymandias • Just lone and level sands remain round the decay of that

Comments Ozymandias’s works have disappeared, his civilization is gone, all has been turned to dust by the destructive

Comments The ruined statue is a monument to one man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the

Comments • metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power • metaphor for the pride and hubris of all of humanity

References • http: //www. sparknotes. com/poetry/shelley/ section 2. rhtml • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ncx. R 5 J KLVA 8