Ozymandias by P.B. Shelley

Ozymandias by P.B. Shelley OZYMANDIAS

By Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

from: The Examiner (Jan. 11, 1818)

Ozymandias

1 а а I met a traveller from an antique land
2 а а Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
3 а а Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
4 а а Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
5 а а And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
6 а а Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
7 а а Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
8 а а The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
9 а а And on the pedestal these words appear:
10 а "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
11 а Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
12 а Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
13 а Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
14 а The lone and level sands stretch far away.

First Publication Date: 1818
1901.

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