It also reveals his great gift to adapt himself to any form and use it with consummate skill in rivaling even the best in the field. Written in 1817, the sonnet illustrates Shelley’s ‘growing interest in things Greek. The poet through this irony wants to highlight the utter futility of human effort to immortalize them and exposes the theme that everything irrespective how powerful would be, must be perished or ravaged through the passage of time. The shattered and ruined statue of Ozymandias is itself a glaring example of irony as it was engraved with the word “Look upon my work, ye mighty.” Now his very own word is mocking on his vain pride and arrogance. Ozymandias composed by Percy Shelley is a masterpiece establishing the philosophy of life through irony and sarcasm. The narrator of the poem meets a traveler from an ancient land the traveller talks about a massive statue which lies shattered in the desert what remains of the statue are its two huge legs without an upper body the shattered face of the statue is partially buried in the sand nearby there is a frown on the face and the expression is cold commanding and arrogant the emotions on the face are so realistic and detailed that it is clear the sculptor had an acute understanding of the king the face chiseled by the sculptor still survives in that barren land on the pedestal of the statue is an inscription by the king the King introduces himself as Ozymandias the king of all kings the inscription further claims that even the mightiest men will look at the Kings achievements and despair that they have achieved nothing compared to the king now the once mighty statue lies in ruins there is nothing around except vast stretches of sand. His relic, the statue, is broken to pieces and will soon crumble to dust.

In this poem Shelley describes the broken statue and reflects upon the impermanence of earthly things. There is an interesting story about how Shelley was inspired to write the spoil one evening Shelley and his friend Horace Smith or discussing Napoleon‘s conquest of Egypt they talked about the statue of Osman Diaz an Egyptian ruler was also known as Ramses the second their conversation led to a competition between them and they both decided to write a poem on the statue both poems tell the same story however Shelley’s poem is more popular.

Ramesseum (of Rameses II) at Thebes is described by Diodorus Sieulus as the tomb of Ozymandias. This poem is about the ruins of his statue, said to have been found in the Sahara desert. Ozymandias was a powerful king of ancient Egypt. Ozymandias was one of the Greek names of Rameses II (1301-1234 B.

Summary of ozymandias