Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
About the Author
1792-1822
Born in England, and being the eldest son of Timothy and Elizabeth, Percy was set to inherit his grandfather's estate and seat in parliament. He went to college, and started writing poetry. He didn't publish anything until his 1810 work, Zastrozzi. Shelley was an Atheist, and when he expressed his views on religion he was kicked out of college. His father was furious and disowned him. He moved away, married, and then started writing professionally. In his life, he wrote almost 70 works, including Ozymandias, which he is widely known for.
The Poem
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:
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”