Ozymandias - Poetry Blog 5

I was really interested in the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. A few years ago I took a college class from Northwestern College in Saint Paul, MN called "Old Testament Archaeology" which was really interesting. Some of the things I learned I recalled as I read this poem, which really made it more interesting and understandable, and also made it come alive more. Ozymandias is the Greek name for Ramses II, who was a pharaoh in Egypt in the thirteenth century BC. The belief of living forever was common to ancient Egyptians, who believed that after they died, they would go to live in a new world, thus, living forever. The pharaohs were believed to be divine gods. The interesing thing is that Ranses II has been indentified with the Biblical Moses - the arrogant pharaoh who battled against the Israelite God and lost. In the story of the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, Moses went before Ramses II numerous times and asked for the Pharaoh to let the Israllites go into the wilderness to worship their God (later it was to let them go period). Each time the Pharaoh said no, he and his people were struck by a plague from the God of Moses. Through the story, you can see the arrogance of the Pharaoh as he parries with this unseen God. Finally, he was 'broken' by the death of his firstborn son, and let the Israelites go - only to quickly change his mind and send his army after them, which brings us to the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptian army lost in the sea. In the poem, I really could see how arrogant Ramses II was - just look at the head of the statue, "And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command." (line 5) The irony is that this magnificent statue has such arrogant and boastful words engraved on it, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" (11) The "ye Mighty" words are mocking words. But the statue lies in shattered disrepair, "...Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/stand in the desert. Near them on the sand/half sunk, a shattered visage lies..." (2,3,4) This statue (and the one the statue represented - Ramses II) vainly thought he was all-powerful and could live forever. He mistakenly found out that nothing can stand untouched by time, as the broken pieces of his statue on the desert floor show us.