Those Who Seek Immortality Have Already Died Ruin, mortality, and high-headedness. Those three words strongly describe the nature, characteristics, and meaning behind Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias.” On the surface, the poem describes a traveler describing a fallen statue of a ruler partly buried within the vast sands of the desert. But without even diving immensely deep into the work’s true meanings, there are messages that can be seen fairly easily. A fallen statue in the desolate and empty desert can be compared with a person who falls in life and is left with nothing. But for what reason did Ozymandias fall? There are a few different clues in the poem that one could use to come up with a reasonable explanation. The lines that describe Ozymandias’s “wrinkled lip” and his “sneer of cold command” illustrate the idea that he was a ruler of crudeness and ruthlessness (Shelley). It can be argued that people (or rulers, in this case) are remembered and cherished more when their life was made up of …show more content…
When the poem talks about his feeding hand, it means that he is the one who enjoyed eating something, not the opposite, which would be him giving food (or anything) to others. It illustrates the idea that Ozymandias, in his mind, is at the top of the universe and therefore he has absolute right to take what ever he desires. On the other hand, he mocks people for the same reason that he feeds and takes. His perception of himself can be most accurately described by two lines: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” (Shelly). When he says “King of Kings,” he is declaring that he is a god, and the “ye Mighty” probably refers to a power even greater. In essence, he is shouting up at the god-of-gods and declaring how much better he and his kingdom is, and that they should despair because of
Pride has been a heavily associated trait with the human race since the existence of time as if it is fused in the blood of the populations. Although not all individuals suffer from pride, it's effects can be commonly seen in a vast majority of individuals. Both Percy Shelley, author of "Ozymandias," and Dahlia Ravikovitch, author of "Pride," explore the effects of pride in relation to an individual's success or legacy. Percy Shelley wrote during the early 1800’s as a primary poet of the English Romanticism Movement. Dahlia Ravikovitch, an Israeli Poet, wrote primarily during the mid-1940s, however, “Pride” is special because it did not reflect her usual patterns. Through the use of literary techniques and tone, both authors present their poem with the intent to communicate that pride ultimately results in ruin.
As a natural phenomena that occurs frequently yet is still not completely understood, death has confounded and, to a certain degree, fascinated all of humanity. Since the dawn of our species, people have tried to rationalize death by means of creating various religions and even attempted to conquer death, leading to great works of literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Cannibal Spell For King Unis. Considered one of the earliest great pieces of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh tells an adventurous yet profound tale about the god-like king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, and his quest to find immortality. While his name now lives on through the Epic, Gilgamesh did not attain eternal life as the plant of immortality was stolen from him by a snake.
All Shelley might be doing both here and in the ‘Mutability’ lines (as also perhaps in ‘Ozymandias’) is describing the imperfection and impermanence of worldly circumstances. Mary Shelley’s purpose in using her husband’s lines might be no more than a device to engender feelings of pathos in the reader’s heart at the series of losses suffered by the protagonist.
...uare Temple at Eshnunna; both very different mediums of art. Although the mediums are different, both are greatly significant in understanding the cultures of the past. Within each of these works of art the theme of immortality is prevalent. One states the theme very plainly, whereas the other has acquired this theme as time has passed. Never-the-less the theme of immortality is important in understanding each of these works of art. It is this theme of immortality which connects these works of art to our modern day and the dream a lot of us have of living forever. Although many hold this dream, I think the artist Freddie Mercury said it best in his song “Who Wants to Live Forever” when he said “This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.” Our life is very fleeting in the grand scheme of things, it’s this same fact that gives our life such great importance.
While he does succeed, his plans go awry, and his life ends in ruin, due only to his hubris. Similarly, Ozymandias succeeds at what he sets out to do, but cannot foresee that his power will not be eternal due to his hubris. In both works, the main character tries and fails at defying nature, something which should never be attempted. Both authors, being Romantics, strongly believed in the sanctity of nature, and this showed through in their works. Through the fates of their characters, they show that the defiance of nature is futile, and that one should never attempt to be above
...ir wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in, was dissolving and dwindling. (156)
‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Shelley and ‘My Last Duchess’ have many links and similar themes such as power, time and art. ‘Ozymandias’ shows the insignificance of human life after passing time whilst ‘My Last Duchess’ speaks of his deceased wife in a form of a speech.
John Clare’s “An Invite to Eternity” is a poem that at first glance seems happy and inviting but once examined, is actually quite depressing and aloof. Although it appears to be a direct address to an anonymous “maiden,” in reality the poem is much more complex. Clare offers his “sweet maid” a less than appealing future life, presenting her with an “eternity” filled with harsh landscapes and loneliness. Most readers’ first impression when they think of eternity is almost dream-like or heavenly. However, Clare’s vision of eternity is dark and mysterious and uninviting. These different versions of expectations, as well as the use of antique word forms such as “thou” and “wilt”, seems to suggest a conscious misuse of traditional and old-fashioned love poetry and portrays the “maiden” as being nothing more than a figment in Clare’s imagination. Further, this is not the first time Clare has written about such a hellish place. His poem “I am” resembles the “eternity” he is speaking of in “An Invite to Eternity.” “I am” was a reflection of a period in his life where he was isolated in a mental institution. In this context, the strange and ominous world that Clare presents as “eternity” takes on a new meaning as a representation of his social death while in the asylum. Supporting this idea, “An Invite to Eternity”
The poem Ozymandias tells of a king who was very powerful, people feared him. He created statues of himself for people to admire. Now all that remains of his power are remains. What remains of him are memories that are now long forgotten and that the wind carries away. Sand that stretches for miles and miles until it
The Ancient Greeks sought to define how humans should view their lives and how to create an existence dedicated to the basis of the “ideal” nature. This existence would be lived so as to create an “honorable” death upon their life’s end. Within their plays, both dramas and comedies, they sought to show the most extreme characteristics of human nature, those of the wise and worthy of Greek kleos along with the weak and greedy of mind, and how they were each entitled to a death but of varying significance. The Odyssey, their greatest surviving drama, stands as the epitome of defining both the flawed and ideal human and how each individual should approach death and its rewards and cautions through their journeys. Death is shown to be the consequence
Ozymandias wants everyone to see and know about his achievements. “Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!” (Line 11) This quote shows us that Ozymandias was extremely proud perhaps even tyrannical. Looking through history we see that Ozymandias was another name for Rameses II.
This poem describes a story told you by a passing traveler of a ruined statue of a king, Ozymandias, seemingly in a desolate desert. On the statue in is inscribed, “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’/Nothing beside remain” (“Ozymandias” 10-12). Upon examination of the surrounding land, we realize that the once vast kingdom around the statue has been taken back by the desert, leaving the ironic message on the statue. This poem shows Shelley’s ideas of how all is temporary, especially mankind and our achievements. Showing romantic values, Shelley believed nature is much greater than man and no matter how big your kingdom, mather nature will always take back what was always
It is nature that destroys humankind when the sun disappears and the volcano erupts in “Darkness” and in “Ozymandias,” it is the sand and wind that causes the statue to fall. In Byron’s poem, humans lose the fight for their lives, and in Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias’s statue is powerless because it is lifeless, emphasizing the importance of the themes of life and death to the shared topic of destruction. Although they explore destruction using different language, they share the use of ideas about the destruction of civilization, and the fall of humankind because of nature, life and
Though Ozymandias (Ramses II) was a mighty and flourishing ruler in his time as Pharaoh, he attempted to find fulfillment and recognition in his reign rather than display humility and modesty. The full irony of the poem is brought home by the final image of the boundless sands, stretching as far as the eye can see. If there is any or little left of the sculptor's work, there is enough, so far, to bear witness to tyranny. Of the tyrant's works, nothing remains. The poem is memorable for Shelley’s brilliant poetic rendering of the story, and not just the subject of Ozymandias and the story
Shelley explores the illusion of power through “Ozymandias” by using the forgotten legacy of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses II and the decaying of the statue he had built in the sands of nature. Blake, however, explores the injustice of power in “London” by describing the reality of the masses in England around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and contrastingly, how the institutions (royalty, religion, etc.) had the power to end the suffering but chose not to. Shelley uses alliterative words to describe the environment surrounding the statue in order to emphasise the emptiness of the desert and the paltry of the Pharaoh’s legacy. The repeated consonants in “boundless and bare”, “lone and level”, infer that the space around the