Percy Bysshe Shelley Writes 'Ozymandias'
Poet involved
What happened
Shelley published 'Ozymandias' in 1818, a sonnet prompted by the imminent arrival in London of a colossal fragment of a statue of Ramesses II. The poem presents an imaginary traveller describing the shattered remains of a vast royal monument in a desert, its boastful inscription — 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' — contrasting ironically with the surrounding emptiness. It is one of the most concentrated meditations on political hubris and the ruin of power in the English language.
Literary impact
'Ozymandias' distilled centuries of poetry about fallen fortifications and ruined monuments into fourteen perfect lines, making the broken stone edifice synonymous with the transience of worldly power. The poem speaks to the same impulse that animated centuries of castle-ruin poetry — the ubi sunt tradition — while giving it a radical political edge through its critique of tyrannical self-aggrandisement. It has become the most quoted single poem about ruins and imperial ambition in the English language.
Source: Wikipedia
