What does sand represent in Ozymandias?

The lone and level sands represent or symbolize that nothing at all is left of Ozymandias’s once-mighty kingdom except the broken statue of the tyrant.

What does the desert symbolize in Ozymandias?

In “Ozymandias,” (1817) the statue is broken into pieces and stranded in an empty desert, which suggests that tyranny is temporary and also that no political leader, particularly an unjust one, can hope to have lasting power or real influence.

What do the colossal wreck and Sands symbolize in the poem Ozymandias?

The lone and level sands stretch far away.” The “colossal wreck” refers to the fallen statue of Ozymandias, the once-great ruler of Egypt who commissioned an image of himself so that the mighty should look on his works and despair.

What does the lone and level sands stretch far away mean?

To complement the “decay” of the statue, the traveler describes a desolate and barren desert that seems to go on forever: the “sands stretch far away.” The statue is the only thing in this barren, flat desert. The “sands” are “lone,” which means whatever else used to be “beside” the statue has been destroyed or buried.

What is the main message of Ozymandias?

The major theme behind “Ozymandias” is that all power is temporary, no matter how prideful or tyrannical a ruler is. Ramesses II was one of the ancient world’s most powerful rulers.

What is the last line of Ozymandias?

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.

What is the meaning of Shelley’s Ozymandias poem?

The Ozymandias meaning is full of irony. In the poem, Shelley contrasts Ozymandias’ boastful words of power in with the image of his ruined statue lying broken and forgotten in the sand.

What are the features of the face of Ozymandias?

Summary and Analysis Ozymandias. A traveler tells the poet that two huge stone legs stand in the desert. Near them on the sand lies a damaged stone head. The face is distinguished by a frown and a sneer which the sculptor carved on the features.

What was the moral of the story of Ozymandias?

The story is over and Shelley’s point is made before the reader realizes that he has been subjected to a moral lesson. The fine beginning is followed by a condensed and vigorous account of what the traveler saw in addition to the two huge legs standing in the desert: a shattered visage, a pedestal, and on it a boastful inscription.

Why did Ozymandias say Look on my works ye mighty and despair?

When Ozymandias orders “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” he meant to cause his rivals despair over his incredible power, but he may have only caused them despair when they realized their ignominious end was as inevitable as his.