Analysis of "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet (1792-1822). He was a
controversial figure in his time, known for his radical political views and his
unconventional personal life. Shelley is regarded as one of the most important poets
of the Romantic era, and his works often explore themes of nature, the imagination,
and the power of the human spirit.

Genre: "Ozymandias" is a sonnet (14-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme and
meter).

Setting: The setting of the poem is a desert landscape where the ruins of an ancient
statue lie half-buried in the sand. The poem describes a traveler who meets a sculptor
in the desert, who shows him the ruins of a statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh
Ozymandias (Ramesses II), which lies shattered and half-buried in the sand. The
sculptor tells the traveler that the statue was once magnificent and intimidating, but
now only the legs and the ruined head of the statue remain, with the inscription "My
name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Persona: The persona of the poem is a traveler who encounters the ruins of the statue
and the sculptor who created it.

Diction: The diction of the poem is formal, with rich imagery and vivid descriptions.

Meter: iambic pentameter,"Ozymandias " is a Petrarchan sonnet with an octave (8-

line stanza) and a sestet (6-line stanza).

Rhyme scheme : The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is ABABACDC EDEFEF.

Theme: The central theme of the poem is the transience of power and the inevitable
decline of all human empires.

Message: The message of the poem is that even the most powerful rulers and empires
will eventually fall and be forgotten, and that the pursuit of power and glory is
ultimately needless in the face of the passage of time.