The King of Kings: Ozymandias

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Recommended: Discussion comparing "the tragedy" and oedipus the king

Percy Shelley wrote many exceptional and memorable stories through poetry. Born in 1792, and died in 1822, Shelly did not live a very long life. Actually Shelly, along with the other generation two writers of the Romantic era died young; however, the way Shelly had died was very shocking. After publishing one of his famous works, Ode to the West Wind, only a few weeks after Shelly died from the west winds destroying his ship and resulting in Shelley drowning. As tragic as that was not only is his works very remarkable, but these three stories, Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, and To a Skylark all paint a strong sensory image; however, the one providing the clearest sense of ideas and feelings would be Ozymandias because the pharaoh took high pride in himself, thought to be the best there was at ruling, and finally the pharaoh’s quote on the statue that he had displayed around the cities he had created.
Cockiness can sometimes be a great thing; however, for Ozymandias he took too much pride in himself. Ozymandias had created an empire in Egypt, and one of the strongest. But nothing ever stood in his way. As stated, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings” (Prentice Hall Literature, 2013, pg 869 line 10). A little cockiness is good, but someone like the great Ozymandias was over confident in himself. This could relate to any subject, and one that comes to mind is sports. In the sports world there is always someone that is the “greatest player of all time.” Thus, creating a player who thinks that it will be near possible for them to ever be defeated, but; however, with that said, with the right training for a beginner, anything is possible. Someone to overcome the other person (the cocky person), would feel defeated, if that person h...

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...ghout the text Ozymandias, it creates a central theme and ideas. Some to be thought of as cocky and arrogant and the King represents true cockiness. A statue represents a symbol of power, or popularity, but someone like Ozymandias seeks out pride more than ruling his country. What he has done is very uncalled for, and quite disrespectful to all kingdoms with this type of rule. But who is to judge, all ruling lack some sort of personality. As he travels the land of the antique, but this creates a sense of pride throughout the poem, and whether this was the right way to rule or not, it cannot be undone now. For this has been the way the Egyptians have ruled for awhile, have things changed now? Maybe, but due to Ozymandias’s ruling this will forever change the way Ozymandias himself will be looked at for years to come.

Works Cited

Prentice Hall Literature Volume Two

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