Ozymandias

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley was an interesting poem that gave examples of how nothing lasts forever. He uses a statue in the middle of the desert as his prime example. Over the years the statue has fallen and only the legs are left standing. The head lay half buried in the sand after many years of laying on the ground. The pedestal is still standing as part of the legs of the statue. The pedestal has the words “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”(Bysshe l.10-11) making it seem that the statue is one of someone who was either very powerful or thought he was. He thought his power would translate into his statue and it would last forever but as the theme of the poem goes the statue must eventually break down. The use of three different speakers gives this poem very good depth. He makes good use of the three speakers he uses as the main speaker, the person he says he meets that speaks about the statue, and the way he presents the text on the statue’s pedestal makes it its own speaker. In the end it seems to me that he thinks that sand will last much longer than much the statue will but in no way says it will last forever, just that it will last much longer.