Ozymandias Handout

AMDG World History 1 The history of the world is marked by the rise and fall of hundreds of civilizations, led by men and women of great power and vision. All too many of these leaders have been motivated by personal interest, or at the very least, ignored the needs of the majority of their citizens. The Social Science Department endeavors to produce a learning environment where young men and women, in the tradition of Saint Ignatius, become aware of their responsibilities to God, themselves, and their fellow human beings and creation. About Ramses II, pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, the poem Ozymandias by Shelley is about the inevitable decline of all men, and the empires they build, however mighty in their own time.1

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

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 shatter'd visage lies, whose frown 5

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear:

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"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 and away.

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"Ozymandias." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 6 Jun 2009, 22:13 UTC. 6 Jun 2009 .