Royal Reality Check

In Percy Bysshe Shelley's dramatic sonnet, Ozymandias, he uses ambiguous dialogue and vivid imagery to ironically highlight the lack of true authority found in the leaders of the world. Shelley, who was known for his rebellious attitude, wrote Ozymandias during the romantic period.

Shelley starts off the poem in first person but quickly distances the author from the subject by introducing a barely-aquaintance to describe the meat of the poem. He writes: "I met a traveller from an antique land/ Who said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone..."Within the first two lines, Shelley showcases the gap between the authority of kings, etc and the people by telling the story second hand. Later, when the 'traveller' quotes the pedestal of the King, Shelley contrasts the statement of the king with rich imagery that intensifies the distinction between the attitude of kings and their actual power. "'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:/ Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'" Shelley quotes the king and exhibits the king's narcism with dramatic dialogue. He continues: "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/ Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,/ The lone and level sands stretch far away." In this passage, Shelley uses alliteration three times to underscore the continuation of nothingness that surrounds the broken statue. When Shelley writes that the "lone and level sands stretch far away," the alliteration of "lone and level" as well as "sands" and "stretch" creates a continuum pattern, which adds to the imagery of endless land surrounding the king who once thought himself to be so powerful.

This imagery, contrasted with the statement of the king, ironically exhibits the discrepancy between a leader's understanding of his power and how much power he actually has.