Tuesday, December 26, 2006

OZYMANDIAS

For I am very busy during this week, I thought I will share the brilliant words of Shelley, which creates a tangible mental picture of the transience of human existence. Why this one-upmanship and struggle among mankind?

Ozymandias

I met a traveler 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 upon 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.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792-1822

2 Comments:

Blogger Jawaman said...

dude...that sure did bring in some memories - more dreadful ones than good. :D

9:35 pm

 
Blogger Unknown said...

I know you've posted this on December 26th, but when I read the word Ozymandias, the video-feed of LSK enacting the poem, replete with her wrist to her forehead while she stood on tip-toe, saying "OH", started running in my mind, almost institutionalizing me.
At that time I vaguely remember rushing out of my studio to the front of my house where I tripped off the mains supply, and waited till the UPS to my computer ran dry, shutting down the PC.
I tried, in vain, to post a comment many times, and it is only now, that I have garnered enough strength and summoned lightning-quick reflexes to hit the "post a comment" link.
Anyway, if it had not been cruel providence in the form of an overweight nearly "Aaappai" English teacher, I might have been able to appreciate the beauty.

11:15 am

 

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