
The arrogant inscription (lines 10-11) now reads as an ironic comment on the proud Pharaoh and Shelley completes the image of futility with his description of the empty desert around the ruin.
Ozymandias tone series#
The enormous size of the disremembered figure emphasizes the vanity of Rameses, the legs standing on their own look ridiculous, the body seems to have disappeared and the face of the Pharaoh is reduced to a series of expressions. Shelley detachers the thought of the poem from and, although he had almost certainly read detailed accounts of the statue in the ruined city of Thebes, beside the Nile, he deliberately sets the statue in isolation in the desert. 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.
