What will survive of us is love. - Philip Larkin

Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1. I met a traveller from an antique land
 2. Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
 3. Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
 4. Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
 5. And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
 6. Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
 7. Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
 8. The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
 9. And on the pedestal these words appear:
 10. "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
 11. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
 12. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
 13. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
 14. The lone and level sands stretch far away.

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Click on a line to see some annotations. 1. Wouldn't it be a cool twist if Ozymandias was actually the traveller? 2. Trunkless legs? Enigmatic to me. 3. Has anyone else noticed the spelling of desert in this? 4. Half sunk is how I imagine the face looks even though it's related to the legs! 5. Sic semper tyrannis! 6. "Sculptor" - The Egyptians were amazing sculptors. Their work was incredible. 7. "Lifeless things" - The sight of these ruins is reminiscent of the sights I saw in Turkey last summer. 8. I can never tell if this line is referring to the sculptor or the king himself. 9. The novel 'The White Mountains' by John Christopher, has a chapter entitled 'I Am Ozymandias.' It's a good read. 10. Jesus is the only King of Kings, Ozymandias! 11. "Ye Mighty" - A challenge to the gods, this is clearly showing that the king thought he was better than any god. 12. Time errodes all...except love. Love is eternal. 13. Similarities between this poem and the tale of Noah's Ark. 14. And the only sound is the whisper of the wind...