Time: The King of Kings in “Ozymandias”
The poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley tells the partial story of a once mighty king whose works are now in waste. The poet paints a picture of a once powerful king whose kingdom no longer exists. Shelley makes use of contrasting imagery to show that Time is the conqueror of all.
The poem’s one stanza is sufficient to sum up the remains of Ozymandias’ life, and from the very beginning the poet distances himself from the King. Not even able to tell the forgotten story himself, the narrator must rely on a “traveller from an antique land” (line 1). The word “antique” being very important because it brings Time into the mind of the reader very early. The land does not have to be far away, just very old. The first four lines of the poem paint the picture where the remains of Ozymandias’ kingdom lie. The traveler starts out by describing a human figure made of stone in the desert. The only thing remaining is the two “vast and trunkless legs of stone” (line 2). The legs being “vast” yet “trunkless” are two contrasting images. The statue that was there was a huge, important man no longer stands except for two legs. The legs are in a desert, giving an image of a “vast”, barren land with just the remains of this statue.
Then the traveler zooms in closer and says that near the statue a head (visage) lies, half buried in the sand. This offers our most intimate glimpse at the fallen king. A contrast is set up between “shattered” and “visage” as one describes something in pieces, while that something was once the head of a statue. The word visage gives an elegant connotation to the image. His face is one of power, yet it is not described as a beautiful face. There is a “wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” (line 5). On line 6, this expression is described as one of “passion,” giving us another contrast. Passions are usually thought of as “warm” not as a cold sneer. Yet, only this passion survived through time as a picture of the fallen king. This brings us to another contrast between “survive” and “lifeless.” Survival means to live on, but the only part of Ozymandias that lives on is his sneering statue. “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed” is still another contrast of the king. It is hard to imagine the king being described as a “heart that fed” when all that we see is a cold sneer, that is almost mocking.
After this, the traveler zooms back out a bit, showing us the words on the statue’s pedestal:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
(Lines 10-11)
The inscription has an ironic meaning to it. When King Ozymandias wrote the inscription, he meant to fear him because of all his “mighty works,” but Time, the true King of Kings, has brought a different meaning to the inscription. The Mighty should not fear Ozymandias, but they should fear the effects of Time, as they can see from the bare remains surrounding the statue. Just as Ozymandias’ works were forgotten with Time, everyone else shall face the same fate, no matter what their might. The traveler says that nothing remains but the crumbling statue, and that “Round the decay/ Of that colossal Wreck” nothing remains but sand (lines 12-14). The contrasting image of a “colossal Wreck” serves the purpose of comparing what was before and what remains.
The word “boundless” describes the sand surrounding the statue, but also, it describes Time. Time knows no bounds – all are subject to time. Ozymandias’ kingdom had a limit on it, and after it was all said and done, his kingdom now consists of a single, “decaying” statue, “lone” on the sand, while Time’s kingdom is “boundless.” The limit on Ozymandias’ Kingdom and the boundlessness of Time’s is the most significant contrast in the poem, for it contains the theme of the poem.
By: Davon Ferrara,