crilly182
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 1
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2007
Heyy,
I'm looking for an extra text for history and memory, and i came across this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley called 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."
I think its pretty good, and i've started analysing it... in relation to history and memory i think it deals with the ideals of how people wish to be remembered, and consequently on how history depicts them, as opposed to the ideas that they themselves and the people of their time had.
In other words, i think it shows the discrepancies between the two, and how the views of the past fade and pale away in comparison to modern ideals.
If anyone can let me know what they think, or if theyre also using it/have used it and have some notes on it... or if anyone wants to tell me what other messages it has and how it conveys them [i.e. what techniques], any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers. :wave:
I'm looking for an extra text for history and memory, and i came across this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley called 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."
I think its pretty good, and i've started analysing it... in relation to history and memory i think it deals with the ideals of how people wish to be remembered, and consequently on how history depicts them, as opposed to the ideas that they themselves and the people of their time had.
In other words, i think it shows the discrepancies between the two, and how the views of the past fade and pale away in comparison to modern ideals.
If anyone can let me know what they think, or if theyre also using it/have used it and have some notes on it... or if anyone wants to tell me what other messages it has and how it conveys them [i.e. what techniques], any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers. :wave: