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By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Both poems describe the ruins of an ancient statue discovered in the desert. They tell of a large stone leg remaining from what was once a grand statue that proclaimed the power and might of its subject, a king named Ozymandias. However, over time the city and artwork have eroded away, leaving only humbling remnants as evidence of past human achievements that are now lost to time.

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33 views

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Both poems describe the ruins of an ancient statue discovered in the desert. They tell of a large stone leg remaining from what was once a grand statue that proclaimed the power and might of its subject, a king named Ozymandias. However, over time the city and artwork have eroded away, leaving only humbling remnants as evidence of past human achievements that are now lost to time.

Uploaded by

api-25889073
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of

Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below.


by Horace Smith

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 (5)
The wonders of my hand." The city's gone!
Naught but the leg remaining to disclose
The sight of that forgotten Babylon.
We wonder, and some hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when through the wilderness (10)
Where London stood, holding the wolf in chase,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What wonderful, but unrecorded, race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler 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, (5)
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: (10)
Look upon 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.

1. What similarities can be found in the poems? Be specific in your details.


2. Which poem do you prefer? Why? Be specific.
3. What is the tone of “Ozymandias”? “On a Stupendous Leg of Granite…”?
4. Discuss the image in lines 2-5 “Ozymandias”. What words are particularly
effective? How does the image contrast to the message on lines “10-11?
5. Ozymandias is an extended metaphor. What is the subject of the poem?
Explain the metaphor. What does it represent?
6. Is the message in “On a Stupendous Leg of Granite...” the same? What further
speculation is included in Smith’s poem?
7. Which poem do you think has stood the test of time?
8. What do you think the theme is in these poems?

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