Monday, March 14, 2011

Ozzymandias

by
Percy Bysshe Shelley
 
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The 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,
The lone and level sands stretch far away". 



The Ramesseum ruins near Luxor, Egypt

 
(The word Ozzymandias is the Greek transliteration of the name of the Egyptian Pharoah Ramses II)

Shelley (1792-1822) is one of the most popular poets of the English language. Belonging to the Age of the Romantics, he is most noted for his visionary works, long dramatic poems, political messages and of course short, sweet and sad lamentations. Ozymandias is one of, if not the, most famous poems of his, and talks about the eventual demise of even the most powerful individuals and empires.


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