The sly hand of the artist
Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem 'Ozymandias' reminds us of how art speaks back to power
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 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! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Fragment of the Great Colossi at the Memnonium Thebes by David Roberts, 1835 (public domain)
About the Author
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was educated at Eton College and at the University of Oxford (though he was expelled after less than a year). He died tragically young, at age 29, but in his short life he produced some of the most enduring Romantic poetry as well as a scandalous drama, The Cenci and several influential political publications. He eloped with Mary Godwin, who as Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein.
In remembrance
This week’s newsletter is in memory of our dear friend George Warburg, who passed away in early July at age 95 and who was one of our most dedicated newsletter readers. He is sorely missed. We asked his family to suggest a favourite text of George’s with which to honour him, and they said he loved ‘Ozymandias’, so we present it here with love and affection. We also give you a picture of their adopted cat, renamed Ozymandias in George’s memory.
Ozymandias King of Kings, wearing a ‘sneer of cold command’ (courtesy of the Warburg family)
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