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I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered vis
by jbreckmckye 10y ago
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings.
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Zuider 10y agoA photo of the scene this poem describes: https://images.rapgenius.com/64983b09fb243b2e65d57134773315db.450x281x1.jpg https://images.rapgenius.com/64983b09fb243b2e65d57134773315d...
- Luc 10y agoI'm not a sculptor but I'm pretty sure those legs never carried that massive head. In fact I can tell by the pixels etc. etc. Wikipedia has a different story, where he was inspired by the news of the imminent arrival of this (without seeing it): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias#/media/File:Statue_of_Ramesses_II_at_the_British_Museum.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias#/media/File:Statue_...
- Zuider 10y agoThe legs probably came from a sitting statue like this: https://english-303-final.wikispaces.com/Historical+Content+%26+Historical+Context+in+Ozymandias https://english-303-final.wikispaces.com/Historical+Content+... While it is true that Shelley was motivated to write the poem by the imminent arrival in London of the Younger Memnon statue, the scene that the poem describes is not consistent with that particular statue (which consists of an upper torso) rather than a separate head and trunkless legs located in its original desert setting.
- lsiebert 10y agoAncient Egyptian statues were often seated. https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=statue+pharoah&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=statue+pharoah&source=...
- ereyes01 10y agohttps://bensten.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/ozymandias1.jpg https://bensten.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/ozymandias1.jpg ^^ According to the travel books like Lonely Planet [1], these feet are probably the ones that inspired the Ozymandias poem. The torso and head are toppled nearby. This is in the Ramesseum in the west bank of Luxor. I visited a few years ago. Highly recommended, Egypt is a wonderful country. In the Cairo museum, you can also look into the eyes of the mummy of Rameses II himself and give him the finger on behalf of Moses, and Percy Shelley. [1] https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/luxor/attractions/ramesseum/a/poi-sig/1136350/355253 https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/luxor/attractions/ramesse...
- riffraff 10y agosince the poem was written in competition between Shelley and Horace Smith, it is fair to report the other too, which is also good [0] In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws The only shadow that the Desert knows:— "I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone, "The King of Kings; this mighty City shows "The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,— Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose The site of this forgotten Babylon. We wonder,—and some Hunter may express Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace, He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess What powerful but unrecorded race Once dwelt in that annihilated place. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias#Smith.27s_poem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias#Smith.27s_poem