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".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Posted: Jan 2011

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Comments (3)

agoodguy2have
ojosazul, Ozymandias by Percy Shelley is a well known and interesting poem of the folly of man and pride. thanks for sharing.
Fellsman
Good Guy is perceptive in describing this poem as "interesting".
As a cautionary tale it is quite brilliant. Judged purely as a sonnet it is technically badly flawed, which is surprising from the pen which wrote "Ode to a skylark" (Hail to thee, blythe spirit).

Fellsman
gnj4u
Hi, ojosazul,
Thanks for sharing Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem written in competition with his friend Horace Smith. We get to remember both Ramesses the Great and the poet whose vision stretched across the level sands.
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on Jan 2011
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