27 ms·
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
by jonny_eh 5y 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.”
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Godel_unicode 5y agoThat's about Ramses II though, and a lot of his statues are still standing. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luxor_Temple_-_panoramio_(10).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luxor_Temple_-_panor...
- IggleSniggle 5y agoI can’t tell if you’re joking, half-joking, or serious, but in any case, bravo for this response. On the other hand, some ephemera does stand the test of time pretty well, whether by being ensconced in an environmentally controlled room like a tomb (ie incorporated as part of a long lasting work) or via heavy replication and meme-worthiness, like the Odyssey, the Bible, or the works of Shakespeare.
- spoonjim 5y agoMind... blown. I never thought about that, that “Ozymandias” was perhaps correct that his legend would stand the test of time.
- nwatson 5y agoThe poem reminds me of the Coen Brothers movie "Ballad of Buster Scruggs", released on Netflix a few years ago, which presents four (or five) vignettes. In one of these Harry Melling plays a handicapped performer of poems in the "wild west", and the segment starts with him reciting this poem. Liam Neeson plays his manager. The segment is one of the most Darwinian, cold things I've ever seen. The whole movie is great, but this vignette especially. EDIT: the beginning of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdQKUvv3bew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdQKUvv3bew