“Ozymandias” Themes Essay

The message or theme of the poetry of Ozymandias is that man is insignificant and his efforts argon vain when compared to the forces of time and nature. Shelly expertly uses diction in the poem to present important ideas. By encompassing time and nature into a theme Shelley brings a divine smell to the poem.To consider the issue of the power of time and nature, the poet has the narrator reporting on a meeting with a traveller from an antique land or Egypt, who told of seeing in the desert, the remains of a vast statue. solely the legs remained standing. The trunk was missing and the shattered face lay half buried in the sand, he told that the sculpturer had skillfully captured the frown, the wrinkled lip, and sneer on the shattered visage by means of passions well read. The importance of this traveler is that of symbolism.The traveler symbolizes the power that Ozymandias has lost in his death. In health he was one of the most compelling people alive but now it takes a wandering traveler to spread a bosh of the once great king. The power of nature is well represented by this part of the poem also. Ozymandias told his subjects to case on my workings ye Mighty, and despair however, thanks to the power of nature there are barely and works left to look upon at all, let alone despair upon It can be seen that nature has unmake his works in the quotes, shattered visage and sand, half sunk. Thus the major theme of the poem is reavealed.The statue is describe as a colossal wreck boundless and bare drawing a parallel for the priming coat in which it was built. The condition of the stones, descriptively worded by Shelley, only emphasizes the despair drawn into the stone by the sculptors hand. By using words such as frown, sneer, and mocked, the author provides us with a slight portrait of Ozymandias. It gives us a picture of a powerful king with no motivation or reason to smile.The phrase cold command portrays him as a militaristic attractor that has seen more death and destruction than a whole army and has come to realize that even he is non able to compete with the Almighty. Shelleys words lifeless, decay, and wreck apply not only to the statue the author is describing but also to the sculptor of the statue. These words encompass his entire being, and go furthest into bringing Ozymandias alive in the reader.Shelley cunningly uses Nature and time to bring in the Mighty one. graven image is the only being that has been around since time and Nature began. He represents what Ozymandias could not achieve and that is immortality. Ozymandias did however fall in a mark on the world but in time even that too give be overcome by the relentless forces of Nature and time that is God.In conclusion, the main themes of the poem are nicely summed up in mans insignificance to time and nature. Shelley also puts across the idea of despair superbly through delicate and subtle use of diction.