Ozymandias

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1818

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form, Meter, and Rhyme Scheme

“Ozymandias” is a sonnet, a poetic form consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentameter. Though the poem might seem rigid and formal on the surface, it represents an innovative departure from other sonnets of its time. While Shelley’s contemporaries (like John Keats) largely adhered to the rhetorical rules and patterns codified by William Shakespeare’s treatment of the sonnet, Shelley experimented. He invented his own unique rhyme scheme for “Ozymandias” (ABABA CDCEDEFEF) and did away with the octet (eight lines rhyming ABBAABBA) and sestet (six lines rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE) structure popularized by the Italian poet Petrarch.

The poem’s meter is more typical. Most lines consist of five iambs, a metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. A typical line of “Ozymandias” scans like this, with the stressed syllables in bold:

I met | a trave- | ller from | an an- | tique land (Line 1)

Irony

Irony is the expression of one’s meaning using language that typically communicates the opposite. In literature, irony can be understood as a technique that can communicate humor, wry understanding, and/or emphasis that is not obvious to the reader at first glance.

“Ozymandias” is powered by a tone of deep irony. While the statue stands as a testimony to a powerful leader who desired the monument as a boast of his mighty works and his influence on others, all that remains of him and his hopes for immortality is a broken statue. No matter how important Ozymandias was once, or how hard he tried to project an image of his power after he died, the ruins of his statue remind the reader that most individuals, in death, must face the reality that they may be irrelevant to future generations, buried in the sands of time. The ironic tone of the poem communicates Shelley’s wry understanding of both human nature and the inevitable passage of time; the poem acknowledges both the human need to be remembered, even after death, as well as the reality that attempts at immortality are futile.

Framing Device

The poem begins with “I,” leading us to believe it will be narrated by the speaker. In fact, the majority of “Ozymandias” is told from the perspective of the traveler, who dictates the other 13 lines of the sonnet. Shelley uses this device to distance himself from story and, perhaps, from the power struggle between the sculptor and Ozymandias.

The framing device also underlines Ozymandias’s impotence. Shelley does not invite us to imagine we are visiting the monument in person; rather, we only know about it through hearsay twice removed. In the self-contained universe of the poem, we could reasonably believe no one but the traveler has seen the statue for thousands of years, and perhaps no one will again.

Alliteration and Assonance

Shelley frequently employs sound devices, including consonance, alliteration, and assonance. Consonance—the repetition of consonant sounds within words—is used to great effect in “[…] on the sand, / Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown” (Lines 3-4), where the soft, sibilant “s” sounds evoke the wind and shifting sands.

Alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, can be seen in “cold command” (Line 5), “boundless and bare” (Line 13), and “lone and level” (Line 14). Assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds, occurs in “stand” and “sand” (Line 3) and “well” and “read” (Line 6).