Ozymandias: Themes | SparkNotes

The Ephemeral Nature of Power

Perhaps the most important theme in “Ozymandias” relates to the ephemeral nature of power. The poem centers this theme by establishing a tension between the enormous power that Ozymandias had at his command during his life, and the now-toppled ruins of his once-impressive empire. Ozymandias clearly nurtured an ambition to immortalize himself. He commissioned a craftsperson to erect a statue of him, which he believed would stand the test of time. In turn, he hoped the towering form of his likeness would ensure that his power remained potent long after his death. More than thirty centuries later, however, all that was once impressive about his memorial to himself has crumbled to pieces. And not only that, but the remains of his former empire have long since been buried beneath the sand of the “bare and barren” (line 13) desert. Despite Ozymandias’s aspiration to fashion an immortal monument to his own power, the traveler’s account of scattered ruins in a desert wasteland offers a potent reminder that power doesn’t last.

The Relentless Passage of Time

“Ozymandias” powerfully draws our attention to the relentless passage of time, which at once enables and erodes our connection to the distant past. The poem’s main speaker gets a glimpse of the distant past during their encounter with “a traveller from an antique land” (line 1), who tells them about a statue of an ancient Egyptian king. According to the traveler’s account, it’s clear who this statue is meant to memorialize, since the text that was carved on the statue’s pedestal remains perfectly legible (lines 9–11):

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

These words have survived intact for over thirty centuries, enabling the message they carry to communicate with perfect clarity across a vast historical stretch. Yet even as these words have persisted, time’s relentless passage has reduced everything but the words to ruin. The statue that once stood atop the pedestal has toppled, and the many “Works” referenced in the text have long since been buried beneath the sand. The connection to the distant past is thus only ever partial.

The Immortal Power of Poetry

Whereas Ozymandias chose to memorialize his achievements with physical monuments, “Ozymandias” strongly suggests that poetry offers a better path to immortality. Given the environmental conditions of the desert and the more than thirty centuries separating our present from that of the ancient Egyptian king, it’s unsurprising that little remains of Ozymandias’s empire. His statue has crumbled to pieces, and his other once-impressive “Works” (line 11) have long since been buried in the sand. So eroded are the remnants of his empire that we might not know anything about Ozymandias or his achievements were it not for the couplet carved into the pedestal where his statue once stood (lines 10–11):

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

The monuments have toppled and crumbled to dust, but these words have survived, communicating with perfect clarity across a vast abyss of time. Ironically, then, what Ozymandias will be remembered for is not the works he had set in stone, but rather for the ambition he had his sculptor set down in verse.

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