![]() Besides, he has changed word order for putting certain words at the end for throwing them into prominence, as in: "frown and… tell that its sculptor well those passions read", instead of the normal order as: "tell that its sculptor read well those passions". The poet has also changed the order of words for the sake of rhyming. ![]() The order of words in this poem suggests that the poem is fairly old. If at all, bad name and loathing remains if one has given pain and injustice to others. Nothing is immortal, not the least corporeal possessions and power. The "level sands" is a symbol of equality of treatment of everything and everyone by time, and the laws of nature. But nothing is seen, besides the wreckage of the statue. After reading the words on the pedestal, he looks around as if he believed the tyrant's words that presume the continuity of his empire, his name, his deeds and misdeeds, and his status. The traveler is like Eiron in Greek dramas in the way he uses tearing understatement. It is ironical that the signs of inhumanity survive when almost everything else for which he expressed his pride are gone. The remaining are just a shattered 'visage' (or face) and the "passions" (or feelings) that can be interpreted even now. They are being made of stone tells us that even a stone is perishable, not to mention fragile human beings, be they 'great' barbaric tyrants or small common people. In fact, we do not know the name Ozymandias as a popular one - we don't really care, if it is not the name of a "human" and 'proper' human being! The word vast suggests that the statue was really big, because even the legs without the main trunk are vast. The traveler being from an "antique" or the ancient land suggests that the empire was an old one. The choice of words has played almost all the tricks discussed above. He put his heart to make the statue, representing perfectly not only what the tyrant must have told him to but also a truth that fooled the arrogant ruler. The (hand of the) artist mocked the egomania of the conceited tyrant, because he understood the reality of life, being not blinded by power and possession. He must have also read the wickedness and cruelty on his face. The maker of the statue understood the meaning of the artificial facial expression that the tyrant puts on in order to arouse fear in the people. Evil name does outlive one's life or kingdom. These indicators have survived longer than the empire and even the whole form of the stone statue. It seems that the sculptor knowingly represented these features on the face to tell the future generations how cruel and inhuman this tyrant was. This and the wrinkled lip showed the "sneer of cold command" to the traveler. Near the trunkless pair of legs, there was a broken face with a frown on it. The way the traveler has described the shattered statue and the surrounding must be discussed in some detail in order to unravel some of the major thematic ideas in the poem. In the course of the development of the narration of the strange story, the traveler's speech is handled in such a way as to suggest many other points of satire and other messages. But the traveler looked around and saw nothing other than an endless stretch of sand, nothing of the "my works" at which even the mighty was supposed to look and despair! ![]() In the letters carved on the pedestal, he has also addressed to "ye Mighty", meaning 'powerful' kings of the future all of whom he had supposed would be much inferior to him. This suggests that the tyrant used to take it for granted that his name would be immortal in an everlasting empire of his, and therefore, the people would look at the statue and his "works" - whatever it means - and 'despair' out of awe, amazement and fear. Here was one of his enormous statues under which he had ordered the artist to write the words: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings… Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair". As the other details clearly reveal, the legs belonged to a statue of some ancient tyrant who had an empire with its capital at this place. As the traveler had told this speaker, there were two "vast and trunkless legs of stone" in the midst of a desert. The poem develops only logically as the writer turns and twists the narration, satirizing the tyrant, specifically, and also suggesting the general theme of the vanity of power and pride. The story quietly satirizes the so-called great ruler as nothing great in front of the "level sands" of time. ![]() The present speaker retells us the story in the exact words of the original reporter: the whole poem is in the form of a single stretch of direct speech. The traveler had described a broken statue of an ancient tyrant to this speaker.
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