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Narrative Analysis

Page history last edited by Adam Webb 12 years ago

 

Title of this essay - Shelley and Smith: Similar themes, images and symbols but different approaches

 

     Many artists and musicians during the Romantic Era experimented with different styles and techniques. Percy Bysshe Shelleywas one of these Romantic Era poets exploring new approaches and techniques in his writingsShelley epitomized what it meant to be a Romantic Era poet. Shelley’s use of flowery, or eloquent, and copious, or abundant, language in his poems helped to establish him as a major poet of his time. In one such sonnet titled “Ozymandias,” Shelley describes the ruins of a once great pharaoh in Ancient Egypt. In this essay, I will analyze this sonnet and the theme, imagery and symbols that Shelly uses in it, as well as compare it to the theme, imagery and symbols used in Horace Smith's poem titled, On A Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below.”

 

     The following video places Shelley's and Smith's poems side-by-side in an audio recording of them. The reason for showing these two poems together is show their similarities and their differences. For instance, Shelley and Smith both use the name Ozymandias, Ramses II, ancient and possibly modern day Egypt and the concept of a once but now fallen kingdom. In this aspect, both poems share the same theme, such as a once great but now a fallen kingdom of man, and the artifacts or remains of that fallen kingdom by using symbols such as a crumbled statute and the nature that surrounds it, such as the open desert sands.

 



 

Shelley and Smith wrote their poems as a form of competition to see who could get published first. Shelley won the bet and his poem was published first in a magazine titled The Examiner (Wikipedia.com 2012). Smith's was published in the same magazine as Shelley's but a month later (Habing 1996). While Shelley and Smith essentially write about the same thing, ancient Egyptian civilization, Ozymandias and the ruins of a fallen kingdom, they have different approaches in exploring and describing their themes and using symbols in their poems. 

 

     For example, Shelley chooses, as does Smith, the name of "Ozymandias," instead of using the pharaoh's name, Ramses II. Shelley possibly choose Ozymandias instead of Ramses II because it is associated with the Greek civilization and is possibly making a statement on the sharing or influence between different cultures, specifically Greek and Egyptian, which are considered to be two of the greatest civilizations in the western world. Shelley might also be trying to use elements from these two cultures to draw upon the romantic and mysteriousness of the name Ozymandias and Ramses II's reign. Aaron Biterman says, "Ozy comes from the Greek 'ozium,' which means to breath, or air. Mandias comes from the Greek 'mandate,' which means to rule" (Biterman 2000). The analysis of the title of Shelley's poem, Biterman adds, "Hence, Ozymandias is simply a 'ruler of air' or a 'ruler of nothing.' It is then obvious that the King of Kings spoken of in the poem is actually nature itself" (Biterman 2000). With this insight, it is obvious to some degree why Shelley would have chosen this particular name as his title.

 

     Shelley also starts the sonnet with the "traveller's" perspective of what this person has seen in the desert. An analysis of seeing the destroyed statue adds insight into Shelley's imagery:

 

Framing the sonnet as a story told to the speaker by “a traveller from an antique land” enables Shelley to add another level of obscurity to Ozymandias’s position with regard to the reader—rather than seeing the statue with our own eyes, so to speak, we hear about it from someone who heard about it from someone who has seen it. Thus the ancient king is rendered even less commanding; the distancing of the narrative serves to undermine his power over us just as completely as has the passage of time ("Commentary on 'Ozymandias'" 2012). 

 

As seen in this particular quote, Shelley is providing the reader with the "traveller's story" and not a personal account, therefore, making the story seem as if it was "handed down" through history or even through a possible cultural narrative. Shelley's imagery in the sonnet helps to create and support the theme of a fallen and destroyed dream of the power of cruel ruler and the ironic and hollow words that remain etched onto the statue's base. The remains of the statue and the inscription on it are "now merely a monument to one man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time" ("Commentary on 'Ozymandias'" 2012). This interpretation of the statue's remains and the inscription on it acts as a powerful metaphor that could also be interpreted as political statement as well by speaking to the cruel and destructive nature of the empires of man and the final outcomes of such empires. Another emotion that Shelley's imagery provokes is a feeling of hopelessness, especially in respect to the images Shelley describes, such as destroyed statue, the empty sands around it and finally the irony in the inscription itself, which indicates the futile efforts of creating an empire based on absolute control, terror and fear. 

 

     Smith takes a similar approach with the topic, which deals with Ozymandias and the ruins of a fallen empire, which is portrayed in Shelley's poem. Smith's writing is a little less flowery than Shelley's language. Smith starts with the image of a "gigantic leg," which resounds throughout the entirety of the poem (Smith line 2). The imagery that Smith provides seems less attractive or appealing than Shelley does. In a way, Smith seems to have a sarcastic or mocking tone in his poem. For example, Smith mentions some "hunter" will wonder what people inhabited this ancient land and kingdom (line 9). Who is this "hunter" that Smith mentions? Could this "hunter" be commenting on Shelley and somewhat critiquing his use of language and inspiration for his poem, "Ozymandias?" Or perhaps Smith is talking about Shelley and himself and their competition to see who would get published first. In this sense, Smith's approach in this poem seems more personal, or to comment on his personal relationship with Shelley. Similar to Shelley's sonnet, Smith's poem includes a version of the inscription on the destroyed statue as well as creating a desolate atmosphere in the language he uses in it. The language in Smith's poem seems to the more modern perception of Ancient Egypt and it ruler, Ramses II. 

 

     While Shelley and Smith write about the same topic and theme, using similar imagery and symbols in their writings, they take different approaches as far as their tones, structures and writing styles, specifically in the more romantic or passionate pacing Shelley uses compared to Smith's more minimal or conservative approach. Although their approaches to writing in each of these poems are different, Shelley and Smith is representative of the poets of the Romantic era.

 

Works Cited

 

Biterman, Aaron. "Analysis of Ozymandias." Personal web page. Analysis of Ozymandias. Dec. 2000. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

     <http://chelm.freeyellow.com/ozymandias1.html>.

 

Library Think Quest. "The Romantic Era." web page. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-rom.htm>

 

"Ozymandias." Encyclopedia web page. Ozymandias. n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias>.

 

Poets.org. "Percy Bysshe Shelley." Biography. Poets.org. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/179>.

 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ozymandias." Poem. The Literature Network.com. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/>.

 

"Shelley's Poetry: Ozymandias." Summary and analysis of "Ozymandias". SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes.com, 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

     <http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/shelley/section2.rhtml>.

 

Smith, Horace. "Ozymandias." Poem. PotW.org. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.potw.org/archive/potw192.html>.

 

Comments (1)

Adam Webb said

at 7:17 pm on Mar 17, 2012

Basic facts and descriptions about this essay:
• 1,142 words
• Six paragraphs (look at the structure of the essay, the “flow” of it, the introduction, the body paragraphs of analysis and the conclusion and the “works cited” section after the conclusion)
• Six sources cited with a “works cited,” in MLA convention, section at the end of the essay (I used this website to construct me works cited section = http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bbibliographer/default.asp?uid=0&rau=0)
• One video for both poems (notice how I conservatively used only one video to cover both poems)
• 14 point font, Times New Roman, single-spaced with an extra space between each paragraph
• Notice how I used “hyperlinks” to outside websites in case the reader wants to read more about that particular individual, poem or analysis of the poem
• Notice my “block quote,” located in the “blue box” in order to denote it as a long citation from one of my sources … is this an effective gesture in emphasizing the length of the quote or the importance of this direct quote
• Does my body paragraphs address my major thesis?: “In this essay, I will analyze this sonnet and the theme, imagery and symbols that Shelly uses in it, as well as compare it to the theme, imagery and symbols used in Horace Smith's poem titled, ‘On A Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below.’”
• How effective is my analysis of these two poems? How effective is my title for this essay? How effective are my direct quotes or paraphrased information?

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