Page 119 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes 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:
Explanation: The poet once met a traveller who was coming from an ancient land. He told the
poet that he had seen two very big and trunk less legs of stone standing in the desert. It was the
statue of king Ozymandias that was lying in ruins. Though the trunk of the statue was missing,
the broken face of the statue lay nearby, half buried in the sand. The face was broken but it had
an expression of anger on its brow and its lips were wrinkled.
There was contempt (hatred) and pride in his look. Cold command was clearly visible in his eyes.
The stamping of all these sentiments on the face of the statue revealed clearly that the sculptor
had understood the king’s passion truly. The hands of the sculptor as also the heart of the king,
who made this statue possible, are no longer in this world. But the passion engraved on the stone
face is still intact. This shows the briefness of human life and permanence of art.
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.
Explanation: The base of the statue was still there in the desert. There were some words written
on it. They could be clearly read. They were about king Ozymandias. They declared him to be a
great and powerful monarch, and a king of kings. The words called up all the powerful kings to
consider the great achievements of Ozymandias and feel disappointed because they could not
equal him.
The powerful and vast empire of Ozymandias had come to an end. All his glory had disappeared
with the passage of time. Nothing is left of him now. His huge statue lies in ruins. There is only
desert sand that is visible for miles around and as far as our eyes can see. These lines bring out
the futility of human pride.
8.2.1 about the Poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was born on 4th Aug. 1792 in Sussex, in an aristocratic family.
He got his education in Eton and later on in Oxford. He was a revolutionary by nature. He
revolted against religion and society. He preached the philosophy of atheism (non-belief). He
was influenced by the ideas of William Godwin, a political philosopher and married his daughter
later on. He was most radical and unconventional of the romantic poets. He is famous for lyrical
poetry. His famous poems include ‘Adonis’, ‘Prometheus Unbound’, ‘Ode to the West Wind’ etc.
He died at the age of thirty.

8.2.2 summary and analysis of the Poem

Ozymandias is the Greek form of an Egyptian name. The person referred to here is Rameses II,
who was a powerful king of ancient Egypt. The poem is about the ruins of his statue, said to have
been found in the Sahara desert.

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