Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was described as the “most radical visionary of the Romantics” and his life was marked by “idealism, scandal, and passionate but shifting emotional commitments”. (392) He was very daring and focused on a wide array of subjects in his poetry career. Unlike many of the earlier romantics, Percy was educated until his radical writings had him expelled and came from a wealthy background. Many of his writings were original and later writers even went as far as to crown him “a prophetic genius” (391). I found nearly all of his writings to be captivating but the one which stood out in my mind was “Ozymandias”. It amazed me how in the fourteen line sonnet, Shelley was able to capture the entire political attitude of the time. He grew up in the time of change for Europe, and the entire western world. Everything they had previously known was being challenged and change was imminent. This is precisely what Shelley depicts in this political piece.
The poem describes a once great ruler and his kingdom now literally crumbled to pieces. He describes throughout the work a traveler who stumbles on pieces of a fallen statue buried in the sand. The statue can be metaphor for several traditions of Europe’s past which have changed so much they can barely be remembered. It could be easily speaking of politics, religion, kingships, customs, traditions, servitude, and the list goes on. The statue read:

“My name is Ozymandias King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty and despair” (10-11).

This shows that statue was modeled after a once powerful ruler who stood for practices which are now distant memories. The poem ends showing how nothing is left of this former kingdom except for fragmented memories.

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.” (12-14)

These lines show how all that is left of this ruler is these few pieces of the buried statue. It shows how everything they once knew had changed. During the time of Shelley everything in Europe was in turmoil. The era was defined by the amount of change that took place and this poem is proof of how their past had become buried by the “sands” of time. I found it incredibly interesting how Shelley expressed his feelings towards the revolutions and political change in this piece. This piece was not unique in the fact that Shelley wrote several politically charged poems, but it stood out to me in how simply and shortly he can sum it all up. I enjoyed Shelley because I found it easy to derive meaning out of his metaphors and poetry.