Ozymandias

The poem "Ozymandias" was written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817. It was first published in the January 11, 1818, issue of the London newspaper *The Examiner*. Shelley wrote the poem as part of a friendly competition with fellow poet Horace Smith, who wrote a similarly themed poem on the same subject.

The poem explores the inevitable decline of all leaders, empires, and human achievements, highlighting the transient nature of power. Ozymandias (the Greek name for Pharaoh Ramses II) boasts of his mighty works on the pedestal of a shattered statue, but only a barren desert remains. This dramatic irony demonstrates how nature and the passage of time ultimately reclaim all human endeavors.

Yes, Ozymandias was the Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II (also known as Ramses the Great), who ruled during the 19th Dynasty. The inspiration for Shelley's poem partly came from the British Museum's acquisition of a massive fragment of a Ramses II statue in 1816. Shelley was fascinated by the contrast between the pharaoh's historical megalomania and the ruined state of the artifact.

"Ozymandias" is written as a 14-line sonnet, but it does not follow the strict rhyme scheme of a traditional English (Shakespearean) or Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet. Instead, Shelley employs a loose, shifting rhyme scheme (ABABACDC EDEFEF) that mirrors the broken, fragmented nature of the statue. The poem is framed as a story within a story, told by a narrator who meets a traveler from an antique land.