Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley is a Romantic poet of the second generation, but even so, his political views seem similar to those of the first generation. The major event in the lives of the first generation of Romantics was the fall of the Bastille and the French Revolution. With those events came a disdain for centralized authority and a love of freedom and general liberal philosophy. While the French Revolution would not have had as large an impact on Shelly’s life, his works display that same disdain for centralized power as would have been found in the first generation of Romantic poets. Examining Ozymandias as a prime example, I agree with the assertion put forth in the podcast that Shelley’s view was that political power wanes over time.

The pedestal, a symbol of power, bears an intimidating inscription, “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” (lines 10-11, 399). It was most likely a commissioned sculpture bearing a commissioned message. What an epitaph! It speaks ultimately of a definite sense of superiority: note that Ozymandias is not just a king, but “King of Kings.” The government was a monarchial system, with one supreme head. Ozymandias’ message is that others should despair of ever being such a supreme being as he was. Indeed, his immense pride is clear in his face. His face is described, “…whose frown/and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” (lines 4-5, 399). This is not a ruler who was pleased by anything, as demonstrated by his perpetual frown. His “wrinkled lip” points to disgust. With such a high point of view of himself, maybe nothing could impress him. The “sneer of cold command” points to the selfishness of this tyrant; he was perhaps cold and unfeeling towards the people he ruled. Or maybe the coldness refers to his stubbornness in not taking pertinent advice from his advisors. In any case, what is interesting is not the power he had but the present state of his statue and reputation. It is located in an “antique land”, hinting at its being outdated. By extension, this might be a veiled suggestion that the system of vesting the power of the state in one person was outdated. Meanwhile, Ozymandias’ statue has not stood well the test of time and the elements, “half sunk” and “shattered” (line 4, 399). Any of his accomplishments, any palaces or other testaments to his greatness have passed away, “Nothing beside remains” (line 12, 399). Indeed, the statue is in decay, a “colossal wreck” (line 13, 399).

One definition of “Romantic” given in the “Definition of Romantic” handout is “redolent or suggestive of romance; appealing to the imagination and feelings” (2). Like other Romantic poets (Blake especially comes to mind), Shelley had a sense of the infinite. It is this belief in the immortality of art that makes Shelley a romantic. Art is essentially an attempt to express the inexpressible, to harness the imagination. Since the imagination is infinite, and art partakes some of that character in its creation, it has a magic and wonder that can never die. In Ozymandias, the infinite is represented as the art and nature which persist. Ozymandias’ grandeur has been survived by “the lone and level sands” which stretch around it, as well as the artist’s original intentions. It is noted that the visage “tell [s] that its sculptor well these passions read/Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,/The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed” (lines 6-8, 399). The artist’s depiction of Ozymandias is what remains, nothing Ozymandias made himself, save his epitaph. The sculpture is described as “boundless” (line 13, 339). It is as endless as “the lone and level sands” that “stretch far away” (line 14, 339).

The idea was put forth in the podcast that second generation Romantics were pessimistic. This is also evidenced in Shelley’s Ozymandias. The statue has a very desolate setting, being “in the desart” (line 3, 399). It is ultimately a scene of destruction with the “vast and trunkless legs of stone” (line 2, 399) dominating the immediate landscape, but ultimately dwarfed by the endless sands. There is some hope in the immortality of art, but overall Percy paints a scene of ruin. A statue crumbles to pieces, almost unnoticed.