![]() ![]() The sight of him lying there greatly resembles the posture of the fallen statue of Ramses, down to the color of Walt's jacket matching the shade of sand and the positioning of his hands behind his back, bound with cuffs, resembling the shape of the broken statue. Then, after Hank is shot by Jack, Walt falls to the ground in shock and lands head down in the sand. And Shelley's version of "Ozymandias" isn't the only one that reflects upon the discovery of Ramses' broken legacy and thus bears some symbolism for the story in Breaking Bad. Ramses II was known for engaging in several expansion and reclamation wars, launching a prolific building program for new temples and cities, and for putting his face on many, many statues, including one which was found toppled in ruins in 1817 and inspired Shelley's poem. Scholars have long interpreted that the poem speaks to the fragility of life and the inability for even the most accomplished and self-aggrandizing ruler to preserve himself from the inevitable erasure of time. The lone and level sands stretch far away. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Poets should watch over the powerful, as a lesson of humility and judgment.Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone With his poetry, Shelley reduces human pride and highlights the limits of power. Sure enough, a sonnet like Ozymandias shows how real and relevant that statement is. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. To him, poetry was a means of saving power from itself. As a matter of fact, this tradition left a trail that continues nowadays, with young Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden‘s swearing-in.īy the way, Kennedy noted that in his works Frost coupled poetry and power. Kennedy was a pioneer in inviting a poet to such a relevant political event. Frost was one of his favorite authors, but he was also the poet that read his inaugural address as a newly-elected President. In doing so, he spoke about Robert Frost. Kennedy delivered a speech about the importance of educated citizens and about the role of the artist in modern society. On October 26, 1963, during a ceremony at Amherst College in Massachusetts, John F. Ergo, powerful people should look at that statue “and despair”, because the punishment for arrogance is oblivion. All the great richness and deeds of Ozymandias are nothing but a bunch of abandoned remains in present times. The parable of the ancient Pharaoh shows the inconsistency of power, which is ephemeral and fleeting as is everything that concerns humankind. With Ozymandias, Shelley constructs a warning for the mighty of the Earth. ![]() Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! A warning for the Mighty Then, he proceeds to read the inscription on his pedestal: The traveler describes the facial expression of the statue, as full of arrogance and haughtiness. It is abandoned, destroyed, and covered in sand. The focus of the description is on the ruins of the work of art. So, Shelley wanted curiosity and fascination to build up while reading the text. Indeed, faraway lands are full of mysteries and oddities. In truth, the vagueness draws the reader back to the great desire for exoticism that Romantic writers had. In the sonnet, the books of Diodorus Siculus became “a traveler from an antique land”. Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone As a result, Shelley wrote a sonnet called Ozymandias, which was in fact the surname of Ramesses II. ![]() If any want to know how great I am and where I lie, let him outdo me in my work”. In narrating his voyages and discoveries, he described a huge statue in the middle of the desert and quoted its inscription: “ King of Kings Ozymandias am I. In particular, Shelley took inspiration from the works of an Ancient Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus. ![]() Bust of Ramesses II, British Museum, London. ![]()
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