Ozymandias

In Percy Bysshe Shelley's Poem "Ozymandias" the speaker uses images of a statue in ruins to develop the theme that nothing last. The speaker depicts what, at one time, was a great monument. There is an inscription that reads "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair" (Shelley 765 line 11). The irony is that the statue is now in ruins. The speaker describes it as "half sunk, a shattered visage" (Shelley 765 line4). Using Ozymandias as a subject makes the statement "nothing last" all the more powerful. Even one of the great Pharaohs of Egypt can not halt the effects of time. What does last in this poem is the the sand. The speaker portrays the sand as though it were engulfing the ruins. The last line "The lone and level sands stretch far away" evokes the image of never ending sand (Shelley 765 line 14).