Character of Time

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"Ozymandias"
-by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, one 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,"

Taken from Shelley’s words, we are able to see the image of the head and legs of the statue of Ozymandias half buried in sand. In this specific part of the poem that I chose, Shelley is using descriptive language to portray the characteristics of the ancient king, Ozymandias. Words such as trunkless, shattered, frown, wrinkled, sneer, and cold, give us a further descriptive image of Ozymandias. This is the more concrete image of the idea that Ozymandias was a cold and domineering king. Meanwhile, the more abstract idea presented in this poem is the idea about time and history. At first we are able to see the image of Ozymandias and his personality through the physical description of his statue. However, the more abstract idea of time lies with the description of the statue half buried in sand. This allows the interpretation that time can make anything fade away. Judging from the fact that his statue was not well kept and polished through time, Ozymandias’ people probably did not consider him a justly king to honor. The image of Ozymandias statue half buried in sand shows that what is left of Ozymandias’ legacy is only preserved by the sculptor’s work. This gives the idea that art are more likely to last longer through time than humans. Thus, we should acknowledge the importance of the role of the sculptor in this poem. The sculptor himself is actually the one who is portraying the characteristics of Ozymandias along with his biases and in his own perspective of who the king was. He holds the power of time preservation because his art will last through time and people will tell the story of king Ozymandias using the statue that the sculptor created. Thus, we see that history is preserved through arts and literature and these are very powerful tools that are often overlooked by people. Reading his poem, I believe that Shelley was very effective in communicating both his concrete and abstract idea using his descriptive image of the statue and the erosion of sand through time. The image of the statue buried in sand is the ultimate image given to reader that enhances our understanding of Shelley’s ideas.