Copy Book Archive

Ozymandias The glory of political power soon passes away.
1818
Music: Camille Saint-Saens

© Hajor, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0. Source

About this picture …

Pharaoh Ramesses II (‘the Great’), in Nubia, Egypt.

Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote this poem in friendly competition with fellow-poet Horace Smith. Ozymandias is an ancient Greek name for Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC).

Ozymandias

I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

In 1816, just two years before the poem was published, a large fragment of a 13th century BC statue of Ramesses had been brought to Europe, and was eagerly anticipated in London. The statue arrived in London in 1821, and can still be seen at the British Museum.

Précis

Shelley recalls the description of a broken statue of a haughty pharaoh, with some lines engraved into the pedestal bragging of his power. Enough remained to see both the king’s pride, and the willingness of the contemptuous sculptor to show it as exaggeratedly as he dared; yet in all that wide, empty land nothing of his boasted empire was left. (60 / 60 words)

Source

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)

Suggested Music

Piano Concerto No. 5 (‘Egyptian’) in F Major

2: Andante

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

Played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest.

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How To Use This Passage

You can use this passage to help improve your command of English.

IRead it aloud, twice or more. IISummarise it in one sentence of up to 30 words. IIISummarise it in one paragraph of 40-80 words. IVMake notes on the passage, and reconstruct the original from them later on. VJot down any unfamiliar words, and make your own sentences with them later. VIMake a note of any words that surprise or impress you, and ask yourself what meaning they add to the words you would have expected to see. VIITurn any old-fashioned English into modern English. VIIITurn prose into verse, and verse into prose. IXAsk yourself what the author is trying to get you to feel or think. XHow would an artist or a photographer capture the scene? XIHow would a movie director shoot it, or a composer write incidental music for it?

For these and more ideas, see How to Use The Copy Book.

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