This poem is written in iambic pentameter with heroic couplets and is based on a real incident which occurred in the 18th Century between two aristocratic families. Pope also used supernatural elements such as the use of a “nymph” and a “sylph” , which were a quintessential feature in epic and mock-epic poetry. The poem starts with the “heroes and nymphs” gossiping about political matters and fashion, among other things. Here, Pope uses irony as he uses the phrase “in various talk the instructive hours they passed” to display the trivial nature of their …show more content…
The words “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” are written onto the statue. Here, the poet juxtaposes the king’s words with the decaying statue referenced earlier in the poem and a description of the “colossal wreck”. It seems that everything has eroded away and “nothing beside remains”. Shelley’s descriptions of both the desert and the statue reconstruct the reader’s idea of Ozymandias and makes a social comment about the superficiality of life in the process. By depicting the king as having a “wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” and describing the “trunkless legs” as “half sunk” shows how the statue has started to disappear over time and therefore lose its importance. Also, Shelley portrays the idea that nothing remains after Ozymandias’s life. Ozymandias, along with his work, has crumbled and eroded away with his civilisation. All that is left is a half-sunk statue which is merely used a tribute to a man’s life. Shelley uses this statue to display the insignificance of human life and how history has the potential to forget someone who was once important. However, Shelley also points out the use of art to create legacies for these people, hence the