Analysis of Ozymandias

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The poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a great example of the use of symbolism and imagery in literature. It was published in 1818 and still remains an essential part of classic literature education.Throughout the poem, we see several themes get symbolised; passion, sculpting, destruction and life. Each of these themes can be seen multiple times in the poem. Each theme is also very important to understand why Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote the poem and what his ideas and thoughts behind writing it were. and is a crucial part of understanding the meaning of the poem beyond the literal sense. As far as poetry goes, life and death seem to be a very popular theme. This is only reinforced by the fact that it can be in Ozymandias. There is a lot of death in the poem. The person the statue is supposed to represent is dead. The civilisation from which the statue came is dead. The statue itself is depicted to be destroyed, and so, in a way it, too is dead. Despite the fact that there is a lot of death in the poem, there is a slight amount of life that balances it out ever so slightly. The first reference is in line 1-2, where the speaker tells of the "traveler from an antique land." The second reference takes place during the poem as a whole; even though the subjects of the poem are for the most part “dead,” there is still the idea that the statute survives to tell the tale of a thousand years ago. Even though there is a lot of death in the poem, the speaker makes sure to point out the fact that the “passions” and feelings of the statue still survive. They are “stamp’d” onto the statue’s face. The author also makes a point of telling us all the features of the statue, things such as the “sneer,” the “frown,” “and the wrinkled lip.” These images very effectively symbolize the feelings of the statue, not only to the reader, but to the speaker, as well. You know the
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