Who is the "traveller from an antique land" in Shelley's "Ozymandias"?
No identification is provided for the "traveler from an antique land." We have no way of determining if this person was male or female, young or old, educated formally in a school setting or self-educated through personal experience and exploration.
We can assume that the traveler has seen enough of the world to recognize the significance of the remains in the desert. The traveler understands that they represent someone who had tremendous power and influence, apparently exercised with a dictatorial style rather than as a benevolent ruler, at some point in the distant past. The traveler is also experienced enough to recognize the irony of the situation; the power is now gone, the works are buried, the ruler is all but forgotten.
Perhaps the traveler is a symbol, a representation of time, which eventually overtakes and erases everyone and everything.
Who is the "traveller from an antique land" in Shelley's "Ozymandias"?
In the poem, "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poem uses first person point of view. The narrator mets a man who has traveled from an ancient land. Apparently, he and Shelley strike up a conversation. and the man relates what he had seen in his travels. The ancienct land might refer to Egypt because the ruins that he finds are of Ozymandias who was a pharaoh in ancient Egyptian times. Ozymandias was another name for Rameses II, the great pharaoh of Egypt.
The poem speaks to the ruler who built a colossal statue of himself and placed it on a pedestal. Ironically, only bits and pieces of the statue remain: the legs upright, the partial face frowning, and the pedestal itself. The irony comes when the traveler tells what the inscription says:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
The king wanted everyone to see all of the great things that he had done. Boasting that he was a mighty king, he hoped that others would be jealous of what he had made.
Now the works of the pharaoh are fodder for the wind and sand. Time stands still for no one, nor does nature give in to anyone or anything.
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
The traveler tells his story reflecting on the decay and ruin of the king who thought his works would last forever.
Who is the "traveller from an antique land" in Shelley's "Ozymandias"?
This device (which we might call “the poet/narrator”) allows a story-telling element into the “lyric” process, thereby removing the single narrator (a requirement of Aristotle’s division of “Poetry” into three types – Epic, Lyric, and Dramatic – differentiated largely by their narrative techniques). By utilizing a first-person pronoun, Shelley allows the narration of a third party, the actual witness to the ruined statue of Ozymandias. A contemporary equivalent might be your telling an anecdote which you heard from a third party, rather than an anecdote involving you directly. Another famous poem that uses this technique is Coleridge’s Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. The technique allows the poet to condense and edit the actual recital of the anecdote, changing the order and the intensity of the original story as told to him as he had heard it, in other words to give it a creative form.
Why does Shelley use "a traveller from an antique land" as a storyteller in "Ozymandias"?
This line can be interpreted literally or figuratively. The traveler could be an actual person that the narrator met in real life. They could have come from a place with an ancient cultural history, such as Egypt. And they could be describing something they actually saw there: the ruins of a giant statue.
Bear in mind that "Egyptomania" had gripped Europe in Shelley's day, and he had heard about artifacts that were being sent to England. In the early nineteenth century, as well, the Parthenon Marbles acquired by Lord Elgin had gone on display in London.
Another, metaphorical interpretation of this line is that the "traveler" is a writer and Shelley "met" him in a book or text. In this regard, it is significant that the title uses the Greek name of the pharaoh Ramses II. In 1802, the Rosetta Stone had been transferred from the French to the British and gone on display in the British Museum. It had been unearthed by Europeans in Egypt during the Napoleonic Wars. Two of its languages are Greek and Egyptian. In the 1810s, tremendous advances were being made in deciphering the hieroglyphics.
In addition, this figurative reading can suggest a broader interpretation of the ruined, boastful ruler. Napoleon had been defeated at Waterloo and then abdicated in 1815—less than three years before Shelley wrote the poem. The British, among others, considered Napoleon a tyrant, so he would be a suitable comparison for the ruined figure.
The scientific expedition that accompanied him to Egypt, under Dominique-Vivant Denon, had yielded tremendous travel accounts. These included a lavish illustrated 1802 edition, which included a rendering of the Colossi of Memnon in Thebes--a highly possible visual model for Shelley's meditation on the fleeting nature of power.
Why does Shelley use "a traveller from an antique land" as a storyteller in "Ozymandias"?
The narrator in the poem hears the report of the statue ruins from "a traveller from an antique land."
The implication in the poem is that this traveller is assumed to be one who understands the significance of the statue remains and the inscription found there. The traveller says that the sculptor of the statue did a good job of portraying the "sneer of cold command" that Ozymandias must have often displayed. Indeed, the disdain with which Ozymandias regarded those around him, indicated by his comment, "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" is still conveyed through the form of the pieces of the statue that remain.
The narrator assumes that the traveller has seen and experienced enough of powerful rulers from other places to be a reliable authority in interpreting the meaning of the rubble in the desert.
What does the traveller say in the poem "Ozymandias"?
Shelley sets up the poem as the narrator's reminiscence of a comment made by an anonymous "traveller" who describes the ruins of a once magnificent statue somewhere in the desert.
The traveller tells the narrator of a ruin he has seen of a fallen statue, with "two trunkless legs of stone" in one area, and nearby, "a shattered visage lies," that is, the head and face. More important, we learn that the whoever sculpted the statue must have known and understood the character of his subject because he was able to capture the "wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" of Ozymandias. In other words, the traveller is clearly looking at the fallen monument to a once great, powerful, commanding person.
When the traveller quotes Ozymandias' words--"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair"--and then contrasts the words with the setting, the desert where empty sands stretch to the horizon, the theme becomes clear.
Ozymandias, obviously once a powerful king, whose facial features indicated a commanding personality, is now merely a lonely ruin in the desert. His words, meant to inspire awe in anyone looking upon his magnificent statue, now point up the irony of power and greatness--no matter how much power one has in life, in death that power comes to nothing. Even the location where the traveller finds the statue is part of the irony, a nameless spot in the desert, with sand stretching to the horizon, remarkable only for the ruined statue of a once-great king.
What does the traveller describe about the land in Ozymandias?
The traveler has been to a barren desert where there is a ruined statue.
The traveler tells the narrator of the poem about the legs of the statue that stand in the desert. Then the face of it lies on the sand. There's a commanding look on the face of the statue; the sneer survives even though it has crumbled into the sand. There's a plaque that reads:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
What does the traveller describe about the land in Ozymandias?
It's an interesting point for you to analyze the role of the traveller in Shelley's poem. There are many personas to analyze in the poem, but the traveller is an interesting one because it is this figure who is able to relay the story of Ozymandias. The world or land that the traveller describes is one that is barren or desolate. It is almost as if the land that the traveller describes is empty, once being populated, but now is not. Notice the language used to describe this such as the actual term of "desert" and the idea of "sand." The only sign of what once might have been life is the decrepit statue that is described as "vast" and containing a "shattered visage." This indicates to us that what once was is now empty, containing only this broken statue. After the traveller describes the statue and the engraving, the closing couplet furthers the imagery of desolation in this setting with the idea of "lone and level sands stretch far away." The land described is one of emptiness, only containing what is a cautionary tale for others.
What did the traveller see in the desert in the poem "Ozymandias"?
In Shelley's classic poem "Ozymandias," the narrator recounts an interaction he had with an unnamed traveler, who described the ruins of the once great tomb of Ramses II, also known as Ozymandias. The traveler recalled witnessing two massive trunkless legs of stone in the middle of a vast desert. Next to the trunkless legs of stone was the "shattered visage" of the once powerful Ozymandias. A fixed scowl was upon Ozymandias's face with a wrinkled lip and a sneer of "cold command." The appearance of Ozymandias's half-sunk face suggests that he was a ruthless tyrant, who oppressed his subjects and ruled with an iron fist. His intimidating scowl reveals his authoritative demeanor and callous personality. In addition to the broken legs and sunken visage, the traveler also saw a pedestal, which read,
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
This message confirms Ozymandias's threatening, vain personality, which is juxtaposed to his pathetic, decaying statue. The traveler then recalls the vast, empty desert surrounding the "colossal Wreck," which is seemingly endless as it extends towards the horizon. Shelley's poem explores the transience of political power and the futility of pursuing authority and glory. The statue of Ozymandias was originally intended to strike fear in his subjects and serve as a reminder of his omnipotence. Ironically, Ozymandias’s statue has the opposite effect on travelers. Time and nature have ruined the once great structure, which lays decaying in the vast desert sands.
Why does Shelley narrate "Ozymandias" from a traveler's perspective?
Shelley's "Ozymandias" is given to us through the perspective of a traveler because he wanted to provide us with an accurate, objective account of the once-great pharaoh's decline.
A traveler in a strange land has no skin in the game, no reason to give a biased account of the sad remnants of Ozymandias's statue crumbling away in the middle of the desert. The traveler tells us what he saw and no more. This allows us to draw our own conclusions about the nature of earthly kingship.
Though a politically committed writer, Shelley wisely refrains from hitting us over the head with his strident republicanism and passionate abhorrence of tyranny. Instead, he presents us with a detailed account of what the traveler saw in the desert and allows us to make up our own minds.
Of course, Shelley wants his readers to come to the same conclusions as himself. He certainly doesn't want them to read the traveler's account and think that kingship is actually a great thing. But the way that the story is presented, even if it is factually based, gently nudges us towards a certain conclusion, a conclusion that corresponds closely to that of Shelley.
Further Reading
Who could the "I" or the traveller be in Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias?
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
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.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on 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".
In Ozymandias, a mystic element is added to the poem through the narrator. Not only does the reader learn of the irony of Ozymandias- "King of kings" of which "Nothing " beside the"half sunk" statue itself remains - but the narrator allows the traveller to actually tell the story himself - quoting him verbatim.
"I" then is the poet himself who chanced upon this interesting "traveller from an antique land." The narrator feels that the story will hold more depth if he uses the traveller's own words. The fact that "I" decided to relate the "decay of that colossal wreck" through the traveller adds to the mocking tone of the poem.
The words of the inscription - Ozymandias' own words apparently - as the "mighty" should even "despair" at his greatness are the most powerful and thus it was a clever strategy of Shelley's not to interfere personally in the retelling of the poem and the irony of this now "lifeless thing" that was once a great kingdom.
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