“Ozymandias”
If you have heard of Ozymandias, it's probably because you are a fan of P.B. Shelley or the TV series “Breaking Bad.” or maybe both. Such is my case.
For those of you who haven't, this is going to be even more exciting. Ozymandias is a sonnet penned down by P.B. Shelley way back in 1817 as a mere sonnet writing competition between him and his friend Horace Smith. Little did they know that this poem will hold such significance to human civilization even after two centuries—talk of being timeless.
The poem talks of a king who had a stone pillar of his established in his kingdom. This was supposed to demonstrate his power in front of the Almighty. To show his citizens that he was the “King of Kings,” — basically a God. But Gods, too — are forgotten with time. The Greeks do not worship Olympus anymore. The Egyptians do not believe that it will be Osiris who would lead them into heaven. Similarly, Ozymandias, the God that was, lost his kingdom to sand with his “Stone Visage” not recognisable anymore. The once-mighty King’s kingdom was a desert now. His grand stature lies amidst desert sands.
The first two lines of the poem say:
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.
They say time and tide wait for none. Only if we could realise that oftentimes, it is time that is the tide which washes away everything we hold dear, be it our youth or our strength or our hard-earned money or our fame, sometimes, even our believes, time is that tide which takes everything from the shore and never returns.
But what about respect? What about our contributions to society? Nobody has forgotten Maharana Pratap. Very few people don't know of George Washington. Fewer still haven’t heard of Swami Vivekananda. Their works and voices will echo with us for centuries to come as it has for the centuries gone by. So, why was Ozymandias, the mighty king, defeated so harshly by time while the above-mentioned people only got stronger as an ideal with time. Not only Ozymandias, every king/person who had held himself mightier than time perished the same way.
The answer is “ego.” While Ozymandias ego-fueled him, others had their conviction backing them. Conviction to do something that they didn't know will turn out to be ephemeral — of course, with a lot of devotion and even more dedication towards their cause.
As the next eight lines of the poem go:
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!’
On the whims of his ego, Ozymandias clearly challenged the Almighty, only to see his empire crumble beneath his own distorted stone statue.
This poem holds great significance to human civilization to this day. Reason — it speaks of an eternal truth no human being can escape. Countries built of rock-solid foundations have fallen due to the ego of some. Emperors and empires could not withstand time because time is to be embraced, not sparred with. They say, “Every day is a gift from God,” but fail to acknowledge the God that gave them this day. Fail to acknowledge the body that keeps them running. Fail to acknowledge the little things in life that are always taken for granted — for the sole reason of chasing after something that satisfies our desires, which, in turn, satisfies our ego. Remember, Xerxes’ ego led him to bring down Athens, yet return defeated to his Persian capital. Even his mighty Persian army could not defeat the free will of the Greeks.
Here’s an example from a modern-day scenario:
If we remember the scene from an episode of Breaking Bad named “Ozymandias,” — Walter White, alias Heisenberg, loses everything he had ever built in a span of ten minutes. Ten minutes is what it took for him to see his empire crumble, his friends gone, his family shattered, his ego shattered, and his face literally held in the sand. While Walter’s head is held in the sand, he recites the poem “Ozymandias,” realizing all that he had built to stroke his ego has been destroyed. Even the respect he had earned with time.
The last three lines sum up everything in my opinion:
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
