Ozymandias – Poem Summary & Analysis

In Short

• The speaker meets a traveller from an ancient land who describes a broken statue in the desert
• The statue consists of two vast legs of stone standing upright in the sand
• Near the legs lies a shattered face with a frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of command
• The sculptor captured the king's arrogance and power in the carved features
• A pedestal bears the inscription: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
• The pedestal's boastful message claims eternal power and achievement
• Yet nothing remains beside the broken statue—no works, no kingdom, no legacy
• The statue is surrounded by boundless, bare desert sands that stretch far away
• Ozymandias's monumental attempt to achieve immortality through art has failed
• The poem is a powerful meditation on the impermanence of human power and pride

Ozymandias – Line by Line Analysis

Lines 1-4: The Encounter and Initial Description

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,

The poem opens with the speaker establishing a frame narrative: "I met a traveller from an antique land." This distancing device is crucial—the reader learns about Ozymandias's statue not directly but through a traveller's account. The use of "antique land" emphasizes both the ancient Egyptian origin and the time that has passed since the statue's creation.

The traveller describes "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Stand in the desert." The word "trunkless" is shocking and vivid—the legs have been severed from a torso, emphasizing destruction and the passage of time. The phrase "Two vast" suggests the original statue's enormous size and grandeur. The legs "stand" in the desert—they still maintain their vertical position despite the destruction, a remnant of the statue's original majesty.

"Near them, on the sand, / Half sunk a shattered visage lies" reveals that the face/head is separated from the legs and partially buried in sand. "Shattered" emphasizes fragmentation and ruin. "Visage" is a French-derived word meaning face, but it also suggests the facade or appearance by which Ozymandias presented himself to the world. The face now lies broken in the sand.

"whose frown" begins the description of the carved facial expression. The frown suggests the king's disposition: stern, commanding, and proud. This sculpted frown has survived the destruction of the statue itself.

Lines 5-8: The Sculptor's Achievement and Power

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;

"Wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" continue the physical description of the carved face. "Sneer" is particularly significant—it's contemptuous, expressing disdain or scorn. The sneer reveals Ozymandias's character: arrogant, dismissive, and commanding. This is not the face of a benevolent ruler but of a tyrant.

"Tell that its sculptor well those passions read" is profoundly important. Despite the statue's destruction, the sculptor's artistry remains evident. The carver understood the king's character so deeply that he captured the essential passions—the pride, arrogance, cruelty, and contempt—in stone. The sculptor's hand has created a lasting truth about the king's nature.

"Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things" emphasizes that the sculptor's artistic vision survives in the fragmented remains. Although the statue is destroyed and the stone is "lifeless," the emotions carved into it persist. Art outlasts the subject matter and even the original work's integrity.

"The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed" is ambiguous and rich in meaning. "The hand that mocked them" refers to the sculptor's hand, which "mocked" (represented, imitated, portrayed) the king's passions. Simultaneously, it may reference the king's hand—his power—which was mocked or ridiculed by the sculptor's truthful portrayal of his arrogance. "The heart that fed" suggests the artistic passion and emotional engagement that fueled the sculptor's work.

Lines 9-11: The Inscription and Ozymandias's Hubris

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

"And on the pedestal, these words appear:" introduces the inscription—the king's own words. The pedestal is the only part of the statue mentioned as potentially remaining more intact, though it too is surrounded by ruin.

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;" is the inscription's opening. "Ozymandias" is the Greek name for Ramesses II, the Egyptian pharaoh who ruled in the 13th century BCE and was one of Egypt's most powerful rulers. "King of Kings" is an assertion of supreme authority—not merely a king but superior to all other rulers. The inscription is the king's own boast, his claim to immortality through naming himself.

"Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" is the most famous line of the poem. The king commands all powerful people to observe his achievements and despair—to give up hope of matching his greatness. This is Ozymandias's assertion of eternal fame and power. "Ye Mighty" addresses other rulers and powerful people. The command to "despair" is arrogant and contemptuous. The king's inscription expresses supreme confidence in his lasting achievement and dominion.

Lines 12-14: The Ironic Conclusion—Nothing Remains

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

"Nothing beside remains." This line is the poem's turning point and central irony. The king commanded mighty rulers to "Look on my Works" and despair, yet nothing of those works exists. No palaces, no monuments, no kingdom—nothing but ruins. The inscription's promise of eternal greatness is completely unfulfilled. Nothing but the fragmentary statue remains, and that too is broken and half-buried in sand.

"Round the decay / Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare" shifts focus from the statue to its surroundings. The "decay" emphasizes decomposition and ruin. "Colossal Wreck" emphasizes both the original statue's enormous size and its current state of destruction. The desert surrounding the statue is "boundless and bare"—infinite, empty, and barren. The human creation is surrounded by nature that dwarfs it and renders it insignificant.

"The lone and level sands stretch far away." The final line uses alliteration ("lone and level") to create a sonic sense of vastness and emptiness. The sands are "lone"—solitary, isolated, without company. They are "level"—flat, featureless, undifferentiated. The sands "stretch far away"—extending beyond sight or comprehension. This final image emphasizes that nature's indifference and vastness dwarf all human achievement. Time, embodied in the enduring desert, has triumphed completely over human pride.

Ozymandias – Word Notes

Traveller: A person who journeys through distant lands. The traveller is the source of the poem's narrative, creating a frame narrative that distances the reader from the events described.

Antique: Ancient, belonging to times long past. Emphasizes the vast span of time since Ozymandias ruled.

Vast: Immensely large or extensive. Appears twice ("vast and trunkless legs," "vast and trunkless..."), emphasizing the original statue's enormous size and grandeur.

Trunkless: Without a trunk or torso. The legs have been severed from the body, emphasizing destruction and the erosion of the original statue by time.

Shattered: Broken into many pieces; destroyed. Describes the fragmentation of the statue's face/head.

Visage: A person's face or facial appearance. Also means aspect or character. The multiple meanings suggest that the face both literally and metaphorically reveals the king's character.

Frown: A facial expression showing displeasure, anger, or concentration. The frown reveals Ozymandias's stern and commanding nature.

Wrinkled: Lined with wrinkles. Suggests age, harshness, and severity. The wrinkled lip suggests both age and perpetual displeasure or disdain.

Sneer: A contemptuous or mocking facial expression. The sneer reveals the king's arrogance and scorn for others.

Cold command: Imperious authority without warmth or compassion. "Cold" emphasizes the king's lack of empathy or human connection. "Command" refers to his authoritative power.

Sculptor: The artist who created the statue. The sculptor is credited with capturing the king's true nature through artistic skill.

Read: To understand, interpret, or perceive. The sculptor "read" the king's passions—understood them deeply enough to carve them into stone.

Passions: Strong emotions or desires. The sculptor captured the king's pride, arrogance, and contempt—his defining emotional characteristics.

Survive: Remain or continue to exist despite the passage of time. The sculptor's carving of the king's passions survives even as the statue crumbles.

Stamped: Marked or impressed forcefully. The sculptor "stamped" the passions onto the stone, creating a permanent impression.

Lifeless things: The stones composing the statue. Though the stone is non-living, the sculptor has infused it with the appearance of life—the carved features seem expressive and alive.

Mocked: Imitated, represented, or portrayed. Potentially also means ridiculed or treated with contempt. The sculptor's hand "mocked" (portrayed) the king's passions, and possibly mocked (ridiculed) the king's arrogance through truthful representation.

Heart that fed: The emotional passion or artistic motivation that sustained the sculptor's creative work. "Fed" suggests that the sculptor's heart/passion nourished and drove the artistic creation.

Pedestal: The base or support on which a statue stands. Often used metaphorically to mean a position of honor or respect. The pedestal bears the inscription.

Ozymandias: The Greek name for Ramesses II (ruled 1279-1213 BCE), the great Egyptian pharaoh. The name itself is preserved even though the king's empire has vanished.

King of Kings: A title asserting supreme authority over all other rulers. An expression of absolute power and superiority.

Works: Achievements, accomplishments, creations. The king claims his works are so great that other mighty people should despair of matching them.

Mighty: Powerful and impressive. The king addresses other powerful rulers, implying that even they cannot match his greatness.

Despair: Complete loss of hope. The king commands other mighty people to give up hope of surpassing him. Irony: they should despair not because they can't match him, but because he has left nothing behind.

Nothing beside remains: An absolute negation. Nothing except the statue's broken fragments remains. The king's works, kingdom, and legacy have vanished completely.

Decay: Decomposition or gradual destruction. Emphasizes the ongoing process of ruin and deterioration.

Colossal: Enormously large or impressive. Describes the statue's original size and also ironically emphasizes the contrast between its original grandeur and current ruin.

Wreck: The remains of something destroyed or broken. The statue, despite its original colossal size, is reduced to wreckage.

Boundless: Without boundaries or limits; infinite. The desert is vast beyond measure, dwarfing the human creation.

Bare: Completely empty or naked; lacking vegetation or ornamentation. The desert offers nothing—no life, no shelter, no sustenance.

Lone: Solitary, alone, isolated. The sands stretch without company or comfort, emphasizing desolation.

Level: Flat and smooth; undifferentiated. The desert landscape offers no variation, no marks of human activity—just endless uniformity.

Stretch far away: Extend into the distance beyond sight. Emphasizes the vastness and endlessness of time and nature.

Publication

"Ozymandias" was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in late 1817 (December 1817 or early January 1818) and first published on January 11, 1818, in The Examiner, a weekly London publication edited by Leigh Hunt. The poem was published under Shelley's pen name "Glirastes," meaning "lover of dormice," a reference to his wife Mary Shelley, whom he called his dormouse. The poem was reprinted in Shelley's 1819 collection and later appeared in various posthumous collections.

The poem was written as part of a friendly competition between Shelley and fellow poet Horace Smith. Both poets were challenged to write sonnets on the subject of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II (Ozymandias). Horace Smith's "Ozymandias" was published several weeks after Shelley's. The competition was characteristic of literary circles of the time, where poets would challenge each other to write on common themes.

The poem's inspiration came from contemporary archaeological discoveries. In 1817, the British Museum acquired a fragmentary head and torso statue of Ramesses II brought by Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni from the Ramesseum (Ramesses II's mortuary temple) at Thebes, Egypt. Additionally, Shelley was familiar with the classical historian Diodorus Siculus's description of a massive statue of the pharaoh bearing the inscription that Shelley incorporated into his poem.

Context

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was an English Romantic poet and radical political activist. Born into the upper classes, Shelley was educated at Eton and Oxford, where he was expelled for writing a pamphlet on atheism. He was ideologically aligned with radical Enlightenment philosophy, particularly the thought of William Godwin, whose daughter Mary Godwin he married (she later wrote Frankenstein). Shelley was a fierce critic of political oppression, monarchy, and institutional religion, views reflected throughout his poetry.

"Ozymandias" was written during the early 19th century, a period of significant historical upheaval. The Napoleonic Wars had recently concluded (Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena in 1815). In England, the Regency era was marked by political repression following the Napoleonic Wars, with the government cracking down on radical political activity and free speech. The poem can be read as Shelley's critique of the English monarchy—specifically King George III, whom Shelley saw as a tyrannical ruler much like Ozymandias.

Shelley's poem also reflects the early 19th century's fascination with ancient Egypt. Napoleon's 1798 invasion of Egypt brought Egyptian artifacts and knowledge to Europe. This archaeological interest was further stimulated by the 1822 decipherment of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion, which allowed scholars to finally read Egyptian hieroglyphics. Shelley's poem participates in this broader cultural moment of rekindled interest in ancient civilizations and their ruins.

The poem is also informed by Romantic philosophy about time, nature, and human mortality. The Romantic movement emphasized emotion, imagination, and nature as responses to Enlightenment rationalism. Shelley's meditation on the futility of human power against the vastness of nature and time is characteristically Romantic, celebrating nature's permanence while emphasizing human transience.

Setting

The setting of "Ozymandias" is deliberately distant and timeless, yet specifically grounded in historical geography. The poem is set in the Egyptian desert, specifically at the location where a massive statue of Ozymandias (Ramesses II) once stood. The setting is ancient—the statue has been standing and deteriorating for over two thousand years (Ramesses II ruled in the 13th century BCE; Shelley wrote in 1817 CE).

The desert setting is crucial to the poem's meaning. The desert is vast, barren, and indifferent to human achievement. It provides no nurture, no audience, no acknowledgment of the statue's original grandeur. The infinite sands surrounding the broken statue emphasize both the passage of time (the "sands of time") and nature's ultimate supremacy over human effort. The desert is a living character in the poem—it is more powerful and more enduring than any human ruler or creation.

The setting also encompasses temporal distance. The poem is narrated through a frame: the speaker describes meeting a traveller who describes ancient ruins. This narrative distance creates additional layers of separation between the reader and Ozymandias. The setting is thus both spatial (the Egyptian desert) and temporal (the ancient past as mediated through modern narrative).

The desert setting strips away all civilizational context. In a city or garden, the statue might be preserved and honored; in the desert, it is isolated, half-buried, and forgotten. The desolate landscape emphasizes the complete failure of Ozymandias's attempt to achieve lasting fame and dominion. The setting is a wasteland—exactly what Ozymandias's once-vast empire has become.

Title

"Ozymandias" is the title, and it names the central figure and subject of the poem—the Egyptian pharaoh who attempted to create monuments to last forever. The title is the king's own name, preserved in the poem even as his empire has vanished. Yet there is profound irony in the title: the poem is famous and widely taught; Ozymandias's name is remembered; his words are quoted. In this sense, he achieved a kind of immortality through Shelley's poem, not through his own monuments.

The title is both the king's name and a symbol of human pride and ambition. To speak the name "Ozymandias" is to invoke the entire tradition of human effort to transcend mortality through monuments and power. The title is also Shelley's assertion of the power of poetry to immortalize—ironically, Ozymandias is remembered not through his own works but through Shelley's poem about their destruction.

The title operates on multiple levels: it names the historical figure, refers to the inscription on the pedestal, and gestures toward the poem's central meditation on vanity, time, and the futility of power. The single word "Ozymandias" contains the entire poem's meaning—the assertion of eternal power followed by its complete negation.

Form and Language

"Ozymandias" is a Petrarchan sonnet—a fourteen-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and structural division. The traditional rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDECDE (or variations in the sestet). However, Shelley modifies the traditional sonnet form by using the rhyme scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG, which is closer to a Shakespearean sonnet but still technically Petrarchan in structure. This modification of traditional form is significant: by breaking the rules of the sonnet form, Shelley enacts the poem's theme about the breakdown of enduring structures and the failure of human efforts to create permanence.

The language is formal and elevated, appropriate to the sonnet tradition. Shelley uses archaic or poetic vocabulary ("visage," "ye Mighty," "Glirastes") that creates temporal distance and emphasizes the ancient, legendary quality of the subject matter. The syntax is complex, with the entire poem consisting of a single extended thought (no periods until the very end), creating a flowing, meditative quality.

Shelley employs vivid and precise imagery to bring the ruined statue to life. The description of the "frown," "wrinkled lip," and "sneer of cold command" create a specific psychological portrait of the king through physical features. The contrast between the statue's original grandeur (implied by "vast" and "colossal") and its current ruin creates emotional impact.

Meter and Rhyme

"Ozymandias" is written primarily in iambic pentameter—ten syllables per line with alternating unstressed and stressed beats. This regular meter creates musicality and makes the poem pleasant to read aloud. The consistency of meter contrasts with the poem's content about decay and fragmentation, creating a subtle irony: the formal, regular poetic structure discusses the breaking down of a monumental statue.

The rhyme scheme is complex. Shelley uses full rhymes (land/sand, stone/frown, read/fed, appear/despair, bare/away) to create sonic coherence. The rhyming creates a sense of closure and completion, yet the poem's content—describing incompleteness and fragmentation—contradicts the formal unity. This formal-thematic contradiction is part of Shelley's technique: form suggests order and permanence, but content suggests decay and transience.

The volta (turn) in the poem occurs at line 12 with "Nothing beside remains." This is the emotional and logical turning point, where the irony becomes complete. Before this line, the reader might admire the statue's grandeur and the inscription's ambition; after this line, the reader understands that all of Ozymandias's boasting is unfulfilled. The volta marks the shift from description to judgment.

Ozymandias – Themes

Theme 1: The Transience and Futility of Power

The central theme is that all earthly power, no matter how vast or seemingly permanent, inevitably decays and becomes nothing. Ozymandias was one of history's most powerful rulers, commanding enormous resources and vast territories. Yet his empire has completely vanished, leaving only fragmented stone in an empty desert. The poem suggests that political power is fundamentally temporal and ephemeral—it cannot transcend the ravages of time. Even the greatest rulers eventually leave nothing behind but ruins.

Theme 2: The Irony of Ozymandias's Boastful Inscription

The inscription "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" expresses supreme confidence in eternal achievement. Yet "Nothing beside remains." The poem's central irony is the complete disconnect between Ozymandias's assertion of lasting glory and the historical reality of complete destruction. This irony critiques human hubris—the prideful belief that one's accomplishments will transcend time. The inscription becomes not a testament to eternal power but evidence of delusional pride.

Theme 3: The Failure of Monuments to Achieve Immortality

Ozymandias built a massive statue attempting to ensure his memory would endure forever. Yet the statue is broken, half-buried in sand, and surrounded by a desert that yields nothing else. The monument failed to achieve its purpose. The poem suggests that monuments—whether statues, pyramids, or inscriptions—cannot protect memory or power from time's erosion. Physical objects, no matter how grand or durable, cannot transcend temporal decay.

Theme 4: The Power of Art and the Sculptor's Achievement

Paradoxically, while Ozymandias's own monuments have failed, the sculptor's artistic achievement survives. The carver captured the king's character so perfectly that the frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command remain visible in the broken statue. More broadly, Shelley's poem achieves what Ozymandias's monuments could not—it preserves memory and meaning across centuries. Art, it seems, outlasts power and monuments.

Theme 5: Nature's Supremacy Over Human Accomplishment

The poem emphasizes nature's ultimate victory over human effort. The "boundless and bare" desert surrounding the "colossal Wreck" represents time and natural forces that reduce human achievement to insignificance. The sands stretch infinitely, indifferent and overwhelming. Nature's vastness and endurance dwarf any human creation. This theme reflects Romantic philosophy about the sublime—the overwhelming power of nature to inspire awe and diminish human pride.

Theme 6: Political Critique—The Danger of Tyrannical Power

The poem critiques political tyranny through the figure of Ozymandias. The inscription reveals not a benevolent ruler but a tyrant commanding others to despair at his greatness. The sculptor captured the king's "sneer of cold command," suggesting contempt and cruelty. For Shelley, a radical critic of monarchy and oppression, Ozymandias represents the danger of concentrating power in individual rulers who use that power to dominate others. The poem's message is that such tyrannical power, despite its apparent permanence, ultimately fails and is judged to be despicable.

Ozymandias – Major Symbols

Symbol 1: The Statue

The statue is the poem's central symbol, representing human effort to achieve permanence and immortality. The statue's grandeur—"vast" and "colossal"—symbolizes the height of human ambition and power. Yet the statue's fragmentation—"trunkless legs," "shattered visage"—symbolizes the inevitable destruction of human works. The statue is both a testament to human achievement and evidence of ultimate failure.

Symbol 2: The Desert

The desert symbolizes time, nature, and the forces that inevitably destroy human creations. The "boundless and bare" desert represents the indifference of nature and the passing of time. Unlike human works, which decay and disappear, the desert endures and expands. The desert is nature's answer to human pride—an endless void rendering all human achievement insignificant.

Symbol 3: The Inscription and Pedestal

The inscription represents Ozymandias's attempt to transcend mortality through words—to command future generations through his boastful proclamation. "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings" is an attempt to make his name eternal. Yet the inscription's promise is mocked by the surrounding destruction. The inscription symbolizes the gap between human aspiration and reality, between what we desire to achieve and what actually endures.

Symbol 4: Trunkless Legs

The "two vast and trunkless legs" symbolize disconnection, mutilation, and the breakdown of wholeness. What were once parts of a unified, mighty statue are now severed and isolated. The legs stand without a body, unable to walk or move. They symbolize powerlessness despite their original grandeur and size.

Symbol 5: The Sculptor's Hand

The sculptor's hand represents artistic truth-telling and the power of art to outlast power. The sculptor's hand "mocked" the king's passions—captured them truthfully, including the king's arrogance and contempt. The sculptor's hand also represents the possibility that art can transcend the decay of its subject matter and achieve a kind of immortality.

Symbol 6: Wrinkled Lip and Sneer

The wrinkled lip and sneer symbolize the king's true character—arrogance, contempt, and tyranny. Despite the statue's grandeur and the inscription's boastfulness, these carved features reveal the king's essential nature: a sneering, contemptuous ruler. The facial expressions represent the truth that outlasts power and pretense.

Ozymandias – Major Literary Devices

Literary Device 1: Irony

Definition: Irony occurs when meaning is contradicted by context or expectation.

Example: Ozymandias commands "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" yet "Nothing beside remains." The king's boastful assertion of eternal power is completely contradicted by the reality of total destruction.

Explanation: Irony is the poem's fundamental device. The dramatic irony shows the king's complete misunderstanding of his actual legacy and the futility of his attempts at immortality.

Literary Device 2: Frame Narrative

Definition: A narrative structure where a story is told within another story, creating narrative distance and layers.

Example: The speaker meets a traveller who describes the statue. The reader does not encounter the ruins directly but through the traveller's mediated account.

Explanation: The frame narrative creates temporal and narrative distance, suggesting that the ruins are ancient and their meaning must be transmitted through intermediaries. This structure emphasizes the passage of time.

Literary Device 3: Alliteration

Definition: The repetition of beginning consonant sounds in nearby words.

Example: "lone and level sands," "boundless and bare," "vast and trunkless."

Explanation: Alliteration creates musicality and emphasizes contrasts. The alliteration of "lone and level" creates a sonic sense of desolation and endless sameness, contrasting with human variety and achievement.

Literary Device 4: Personification

Definition: Giving human characteristics to non-human things.

Example: The face "frown[s]," the desert "stretches," the hand "mocked." These personifications animate the inanimate, giving the statue and landscape human-like qualities.

Explanation: Personification brings the ruins to life imaginatively, making readers emotionally engaged with the scene despite its desolation.

Literary Device 5: Imagery

Definition: Vivid sensory language that creates mental pictures.

Example: "Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" creates a precise visual image of the broken face and reveals character through facial features.

Explanation: Concrete imagery makes the abstract concept of temporal decay vividly real and emotionally impactful.

Literary Device 6: Metaphor

Definition: A direct comparison between two things without using "like" or "as."

Example: The statue metaphorically represents human power, pride, and mortality. The desert metaphorically represents time and nature's indifference.

Explanation: Metaphor allows Shelley to discuss abstract concepts—power, time, mortality—through concrete objects.

Literary Device 7: Volta (Turning Point)

Definition: A sudden turn or shift in the poem's meaning, often occurring in sonnets between octave and sestet.

Example: "Nothing beside remains" (line 12) marks the turning point from description to judgment, from admiration to irony.

Explanation: The volta shifts the reader's understanding. Before this line, the focus is on the statue's grandeur; after this line, the focus is on its meaninglessness.

Literary Device 8: Oxymoron

Definition: A combination of contradictory terms.

Example: "Lifeless things" (the statue is made of stone but carved to appear alive). The statue is simultaneously a work of great art and meaningless ruin.

Explanation: Oxymoron captures the poem's central contradiction: the statue is both grand and destroyed, permanent and decayed, meaningful and meaningless.

Literary Device 9: Juxtaposition

Definition: Placing two contrasting elements side by side for effect.

Example: The inscription's boastful pride is juxtaposed with the reality of complete destruction. The statue's original vastness is juxtaposed with its current fragmentation.

Explanation: Juxtaposition emphasizes the gap between aspiration and reality, between what humans desire and what actually occurs.

Literary Device 10: Enjambment

Definition: The continuation of a sentence across multiple lines without punctuation breaks.

Example: "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" extends across three lines, creating flowing, unbroken thought.

Explanation: Enjambment creates a sense of flowing meditation, appropriate to the poem's reflective tone. It also mimics the way thoughts and perceptions flow without neat divisions.