Tuesday Poem: “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Ozymandias
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.
.
by Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1892-1922
This version from The Penguin Book of English Verse, ed. John Hayward, Penguin Books, 1956
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About the Poem: The sonnet Ozymandius has always been one of my favourite poems since I first read it as a teen and enjoyed the understated irony, concerning human hubris, of the final three lines. Shelley is regarded as a major English Romantic poet and Oyzmandias is amongst his most well-known works.
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And it’s so resonant with all that’s happening in the Middle East, too. It’s fresh for every new reader, I suspect – and such a pleasure to read again and again; new insights every time. Thanks.
I agree, definitely one that endures and continues to ‘speak’ to successive generations.
Hi Helen (and Belinda)
‘Enduring’ and ‘relevant to Now’ are the words I want to put forward, too.
I found myself noticing for the first time (having read this poem who knows how many times in the past and not seeing this) Shelley’s line “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;’
How interesting that he chose this, instead of ‘The heart that mocked them. and the hand that fed;’ The shift in meaning is subtle but significant, I think?
Thanks, Helen – sending you steady thoughts.
L, C
You’re right, the other way around seems more logical but this is more subtle, because it is the heart that feeds those “passions … which yet survive.”
And thank you for all those steady thoughts.
There’s no question this has to be one of the most momentous poems of history. I love it . Thanks for posting.
Which makes me wonder why I’ve left it this long to post, but it definitely felt like the ‘right’ poem for today.:)
This was one of the poems we “did” in school that has stuck with me ever since – and as you say, so appropriate for the times!
great stuff