The pedestal of this statue demands, “My name, Ozymandias. I am King of Kings./Look on my works, ye Mighty. And despair!” (10) Casual passers-by who see the shattered statue of Ozymandias might think that the ancient ruler was powerful and had control over time, death, and his loyal subjects. Ozymandias’ statue, now a pile of rubble and abandoned in a desert, can be seen in context as the one being ruled over by time. In the poem a speaker meets a traveler who tells him of Ozymandias’ rule long ago. But the crumbling, broken statue he found in desert is a contradiction to this legend. Percy Bysshe Shelley accentuates this theme by using provocative diction, juxtaposing opposites, and a sombre tone. The reader is told that nothing lasts forever and it is all lost to time.
Shelley uses diction to present Ozymandias in the context of power and royal glory. Later in the poem the reader is made to realize that not even Ozymandias can defeat time. This proves the point that we are all under the control of time. Shelley chose to call the desert where Ozymandias has fallen into ruin an “antique place” in line 1. It gives Ozymandias a connotation of antique. It conveys that antiques are more valuable than their less historic counterparts. Ozymandias’ character is imbued with a royal and historic quality. The speaker’s first lines in the poem build upon an image of Ozymandias as a powerful king. The word “visage”, used in line 4, is used to describe his facial features. The word “façade” is used to describe a “half-sunk” or “shattered”, but the elitism it implies gives the reader an idea of the pompousness that Ozymandias was known for. The speaker acknowledges that it is not true today, and the statue’s destruction is more relevant in this age. However, the portrayal of an once-powerful monarch reinforces its downfall. The ruins of Ozymandias are a testament to our helplessness in the face of destiny. When describing Ozymandias as a former king, the speaker offers a final glimpse. He describes his “wrinkled face”, “frown”, “sneer”, and “cold command” (4-5) which still remain on the sculptor’s representation of Ozymandias. Ozymandias’s brutality in subjugating his people is also revealed. Ozymandias being cruel and not benevolent is a choice that evokes images where there are no checks to the rule of the king. The speaker is making a statement that even those who are powerful will be defeated by the masters of time.
The poem juxtaposes Ozymandias, a powerful leader, with Ozymandias, the abandoned remains of an old statue. The word choices that contradict this idea are equally important. In line 12, his shattered statue is called “the decay”. The word decay is used to describe dying plants or animals, a marked change from Ozymandias whose “sneer” was a cold command. As a result, while Ozymandias’s memory is one of a powerful and perhaps abusive ruler, the current state of his statue is in total contradiction to this. Ozymandias has been reduced to a “sneer”, a “wrinkled mouth”, and a “frown”. But these are meaningless as they have “stamped [this] dead [thing]”. The word stamp is used to describe the process of sculpting, which implies a rapid imprint rather than a meticulous chiseling. However, there could be another meaning. According to Merriam Webster, stamp also means “to extinguish” or “to destroy”, usually by using the foot. This may not have been the intention, but in the context of this poem, it is reasonable to assume that this was a conscious choice to signal the extinction of Ozymandias’ memory and power by the march of ever-present time. The use of words is key to conveying this theme. But it’s the juxtaposition that highlights the difference between Ozymandias and the rest of his statue.
Lines 10-12 are the most important lines in the poem. They follow the words “My Name is Ozymandias;/ Look upon my works, Ye Mighty, and despair!” by “Nothing else remains,” referring to the desert area where Ozymandias has abandoned his statue. This contrasts the two competing narratives at the core of the poem. Ozymandias, a once powerful and forceful leader is now crumbling in the desert. Other juxtapositions are used to emphasize the theme throughout the poem. In lines 4-7, “Half-sunk lies a shattered face, whose frown/And wrinkled lip/And sneer/Of cold command/Tell that its sculptor read those passions/Which yet survive, stamped upon these lifeless things” is another example. The juxtapositions between phrases and words like “sneer, cold command” (5) and “frown”, which portray Ozymandias cruelly controlling his rule and “lifeless [thing]”, which describes his statue as “shattered”, serve to reinforce the competing portrayals.
Ozymandias is described in a variety of ways using juxtaposition. This is shown in line 8 when “The hand mocked and fed them” is used to show the contrast between Ozymandias being cruel and generous. Setting is established by juxtaposing two elements. In line 13, the rubble of the wreck is contrasted to the desert where it was lost. The sands are a symbol of the desert to which Ozymandias has been abandoned.
Shelley uses juxtaposition and diction to reinforce the theme of “Ozymandias”. Alliteration is used to highlight descriptive phrases, such as “boundless and barre” (13) and “lone and flat” (14). “Cold command” (5), for example, serves to highlight the important descriptive phrases. However, their ultimate goal is to support the overarching formal feature of diction. The alliteration in “Boundless And Bare” contrasts with “that Colossal Wreck” and highlights this contrast. The poem contrasts Ozymandias’s past as a leader with his present as a pile rubble on the desert. This supports the idea that even Ozymandias, who is called “King Of Kings” (10), is not able to stop the march of the time. Shelley shows us that time is the master of all things. By juxtaposing opposites and using diction to show this, she reveals the truth about our world.
