TEXTUAL ANALYSIS (Ozymandias)

BY :
Fatkhul Kurniawan 130500011
Aditya Davinsa 15050005
Maya Ruliana 16050004
Dinda Yunita Sari 16050005
Ivon Erwinda 16050007
Gayuk Widianingsih 16050013
Larasati 16050014
Latif 16050016
Ayu Firdha Tamara 16050022
Roby Aladawiyah 16050027
Tahta Ariani 16050031
Widya Saraswati 16050033
Imaniar Tiara Ningrum 16050042

THE STUDY PROGRAM OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN (STKIP)
MUHAMMADIYAH PRINGSEWU LAMPUNG
2019
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

I.1. Background of the Study

Poetry is an art of human expression and experience which is made of words. Poetry
expresses the sense and sound that contain the feeling of the author.

“Poetry might be defined as a kind of languages that says more and says it more
intensely than does ordinary language. In order to understand this fully, we need to
understand what poetry says. For language is employed o different occasions to say
quite different kinds of things; in other words, language has different uses.” (Perrine,
Sound and Sense, 1988:509)

According to those definitions, a poem can be analyzed what is the meaning of that
poem. Poem analyzing is an activity that we are concerned with explaining the
methods and techniques of taking poem apart in order to arrive at a greater
understanding of both its construction and each meaning. The author uses the poem
“Ozymandias” to be analyzed.

I.2. Research Problem

The Problem on this is:
1. Who is Ozymandias in the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
2. What is the theme of the poem?
3. What is the the stanza and rhyme of poem?
4. What is the imagery of the poem?
5. What is irony and the symbol of the poem?
I.3. Purpose of the Study
The purpose on this study is:
1. To appreciate the poem of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias.
2. To analyze the poem of Ozymandias.
 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. The Poem Of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a fourteen line sonnet written in 1817 by a British Romantic poet whose name
is synonymous with radical social and political change. Percy Bysshe Shelley lived a chaotic,
nomadic life but managed to produce poetry and pamphlets for most of his adult years. He
eventually married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of philosopher William
Godwin, and eloped with her to Europe, living in a circle of artistic friends and lovers which
included for a time Lord Byron. It was during this time that Shelley died at the age of 29
when his boat sank in a storm in the Gulf of Spezia, Italy. Atheist, pacifist and vegetarian, he
was mourned by his close friends but back in England he was seen as an agitator. His wide
ranging poetry lives on. A sensitive nature poet, he wrote the oft quoted To a Skylark and The
Flower That Smiles Today but he could pen political verse too, notably England in 1819.

Ozymandias is a political poem at heart, written at a time when Napoleon's domination of

Europe was coming to an end and another empire, that of Great Britain's, was about to take
over. Shelley's poem encapsulates metaphorically the outcome of such tyrannical wielding of
power - no leader, King, despot, dictator or ruler can overcome time. Overall, this sonnet
paints a picture of an egotistical character who thought himself without rival but who was
cruel to his people.

Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley

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.”

B. The Analysis of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1. Ozymandias Summary:
The speaker meets a traveler who came from a remote land. He tells the speaker that he
saw an old, fragmented statue in the desert. The statue’s body is ruined, the parts left are
two huge legs and a face buried in the sand. This is the statue of a King, Ozymandias.
Although, the statue has been destroyed but the expressions of arrogance and pride are
still clearly visible which indicates that the sculptor understood the emotions of the King
accurately. The speaker praises the sculptor for his skills.
Furthermore, one the pedestal of the statue, some words of the King are engraved that
show him as the most powerful ruler. As the King is no more, and the statue is also
ruined, the engraving is a mockery at his pride and ego.
2. The Theme
a. Transient:
This is the major theme of the poem. The statue is a “colossal wreck” which clearly
says that nothing in the world lasts forever. The King who once considered himself as
God and ordered to erect his statue to show his power and mighty is now unknown to
the world. Only his broken statue is left which tells about his arrogance and vain
pride. No matter how proud and arrogant someone is, everything has to fade away
from this world as nothing lasts forever, whether it is ones fame, arrogance or ego.
Moreover; as the statue is now destroyed, the engraving on the pedestal is just a
mockery at the pride and ego of the King who once considered himself as “King of
Kings”.
b. Power and Pride:

In the poem, statue is the symbol of pride, ambition and power. The fact that statue
has been destroyed emphasizes that human power is temporary. Everything has an
end, nothing is permanent. The powerful people who believe that their power is
immortal are deceiving themselves.
 Ozymandias was mortal; similarly his power and pride was mortal and got vanished
with him. The desert and time swallowed his vain pride and the same fate awaits the
powerful of today.

c. Art:

The poem also shows the importance of Art. Ozymandias was an Egyptian King who
is unknown to the people of today’s world but the ruins of his sculptor tell many
things about his time. This statue is a piece of art, made by a skilled sculptor who did
a great job while erecting it. The expressions and wrinkles on the king’s statue are so
accurate that they are showing his personality very well. The sculpture shows the
Art’s longevity. Everything related to king’s time has been vanished expect the
sculptor that is very skilfully made.

3. The stanza

The poem is a sonnet - a fourteen-line single stanza form that originated in Italian love
poetry and that was popularised in England by Shakespeare. Most sonnets break into two
parts: an 'octet' (the first eight lines) and a 'sextet' (the last six lines), with the second part
commenting on the first. In this sonnet, the first part sets up the frame narrative and then
describes the statue and the second part ironically relates the king's words and adds the
final description of the desert setting. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, but there
are several variations in the pattern, including reversed first feet ('Nothing beside remains'
and 'Tell that its sculptor…').

4. The Rhyme

The rhyme scheme is somewhat unusual for a sonnet of this era; it does not fit a
conventional Petrarchan pattern, but instead interlinks the octave (a term for the first eight
lines of a sonnet) with the sestet (a term for the last six lines), by gradually replacing old
rhymes with new ones in the form ABABACDCEDEFEF.

5. Imagery
a. Visual Imagery

“Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone” (line 2). This line shows that there
is a stone/statue that it is a pair of leg without a torso.

“Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,” (line 3). This line shows that the statue
is standing in the desert that is full with sand.
 “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,” (line 4). This line shows that the
legs are half sunk in the sand, and there is a statue of face near it.

“And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,” (line 5). This line shows that the lip
in the face is wrinkled/furrowed. “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read” (line
6). This line shows that the sculptor really knew the face of the man who was
presented in the statue.

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay” (line 12). This line shows that there is no
anything around the statue.

“Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare” (line 13). This line shows that the statue
is very big, but now it is just ruins.

“The lone and level sands stretch far away” (line 14). This line shows that the statue
is in the middle of dessert, together with loneliness.

b. Auditory imagery

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: (line 10). This line shows that the statue is
Ozymandias, he was a king of Egipth

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" (line 11). This line shows that
Ozymandias had created something in his era, for example, the statue of him.

c. Irony

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: (line 10).

This line tells that Ozymandias is a king. Ozymandias was a king of Egypt (Egyptian
pharaoh Ramesses II). Now, he is not a king anymore because he hasn’t any palace or
castle and loyal people. He said that he is a king, but it is not true that he is a king. It
becomes an irony because he is not a king anymore.

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" (line 11). This line tells that
Ozymandias’s works will be everlasting, and it shows that his works is the best of the
best. Ozymandias is too arrogant to say that the other works will despair, but it is not
true, because now Ozymandias’s works are just ruins.

From the lines above, we know that there was a kingdom that had a king named
Ozymandias, but now it’s just a “colossal wreck” / ruins.
d. Symbol
Symbol of Ruins
“Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone” (line 2). The symbol of ruins is
shown by the word “trunkless” that means the statue is without a torso (body). It
means that the statue is not complete anymore.
“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,” (line 4). The words “half sunk”
show that the statue doesn’t give any maintenance anymore. No one cares with the
statue.
“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay” (line 12). The word “remains” shows that
there was a kingdom there, but the kingdom is gone by the time. The time is also
change the Ozymandias’s works to be decayed things.
“Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare” (line 13). The words “colossal wreck”
show that now the ozymandias’s work including his big statue are just ruins and they
are lied in the sands.
 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

From the analysis, the conclusion of the poem of Percy Bysshe Shelley,
“Ozymandias” is very touching and absolutely great. We can learn about that nothing lifeless
thing like statue will be eternal from this poem.

This poem shows the Percy Bysshe Shelley’s thought about Ozymandias’s life and
works. Percy Bysshe Shelley said that Ozymandias was a king of a kingdom in Egypt that is
shown by the sands and dessert. Ozymandias was also an arrogant king. His arrogant
character was shown by his word that he was king of kings, and there were no other works
that were greater than my works. In the other side, the truth is that Ozymandias works are
only its ruins in the end.

In this poem, there are imagery and figurative language. In imagery, there are visual
and auditory. Then, in figurative language, there are symbol and irony. The using of these
elements made the poem more beautiful and amazing to read.