User:Eddie891/Ozymandias
Sonnet written by Percy Shelley / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Ozymandias" (/ˌɒziˈmændiəs/ oz-ee-MAN-dee-əs)[1] is the title of a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). It was first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of The Examiner[2] of London. The poem was included the following year in Shelley's collection Rosalind and Helen, A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems,[3] and in a posthumous compilation of his poems published in 1826.[4]
Ozymandias (Shelley) | |
---|---|
by Percy Bysshe Shelley | |
First published in | 11 January 1818 |
Country | England |
Language | Modern English |
Form | Sonnet |
Meter | Loose iambic pentameter |
Rhyme scheme | ABABA CDCEDEFEF |
Publisher | The Examiner |
Full text | |
Ozymandias (Shelley) at Wikisource |
Shelley wrote the poem in friendly competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith (1779–1849), who also wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the same title. The poem explores the fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion.