How to Read Ozymandias

Look at the poem’s title:
Looking strictly at the title, I figure the poem is perhaps about Ozymandias. Ozymandias could maybe be an person of social importance. The poem could be describing him, physically and/or psychologically, it could be describing his importance, or maybe difficulties he's encountered or difficulties he's created.

Check for understanding:

From what I could decipher, it seemed as though the poem spoke of a location. The location of a long lost sculpture, lost under thousands of grains of sand, the desert. It is perhaps marked by the remains of some of the pieces of the statue. Ozymandias was the sculpture's architect.

Look for patterns:

I noticed that the poem will physically describe the town, then it will describe the relic in a metaphorical manner, inciting an emotion with the image. The poem does this at the first part, then again when Ozymandias' quote is introduced. There is also some rhyming.

Look for changes:

Well at the beginning it goes from someone mentioning a lost artifact, to a quote of Ozymandias speaking.

Identify the narrator:

The narrator is an unknown traveller, or rather some bystander who just met a traveller.


Check for new understanding:

Ozymandias spoke of being the king of kings, perhaps the location of the statue he created is also the location of a lost town, or village that he once ruled. Why else would someone build a statue in the middle of the desert? Where would you get the marble? There must have been some form of settlement or something important in the area of that statue.

Find the crucial moments:

A crucial moment would be when the poem mentions 'a shattered visage lies'. This alludes to the fact that there was a statue that was built. Another important part, would be when Ozymandias says he is the king of kings, implying he is a leader of some nature.  'Look on my works,' implies that Ozymandias build whatever was buried in the sand. Another one would be how the poem quotes a plaque on the lost statue.

Consider form and function:

The poem uses rhyming to make it phonetically appealing. It uses enjambment on certain lines to keep a continues flow for certain ideas. 'King of Kings' is capitalized, putting an emphasize on that declaration.

Check for improved understanding:

Perhaps this story is not about Ozymandias at all. Perhaps, it is about whether or not one could believe what might be mythical. The poem gives no idea as to whether or not what this traveller claims is true. It presents no reaction from the narrator. It only speaks of this relic deep in the desert, and alludes to some context. The concept of a lost relic has a certain appeal, it is unknown, it evokes creativity and has a sense of myth.