Ozymandias

"Ozymandias" (/ˌɒziˈmændiəs/ o-zee-MAN-dee-əs) is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). It was first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of The Examiner of London. The poem was included the following year in Shelley's collection Rosalind and Helen, A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, and in a posthumous compilation of his poems published in 1826.

This article is about the poem by Shelley. For the poem by Smith, see Ozymandias (Smith). For the Egyptian pharaoh, see Ramesses II. For other uses, see Ozymandias (disambiguation).

Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley's "Ozymandias" in The Examiner
First published in11 January 1818
CountryEngland
LanguageModern English
FormSonnet
MeterLoose iambic pentameter
Rhyme schemeABABACDCEDEFEF
PublisherThe Examiner
Full text
Ozymandias (Shelley) at Wikisource

Shelley wrote the poem in friendly competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith (1779–1849), who wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the same title. The poem explores the worldly fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion. "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!", exemplifies the arrogance and hubris of a leader who believed his dominion would endure indefinitely.

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