Poetry Essay

Poem: Ozymandias

Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe the speaker's attitude to his former ruler

Every person has a different view on things, we each have our own perspective on different issues. So when it comes to realizing how a person is, why don't we just tell them to their face what we like or dislike about them. Some people do and some people don't. Most people don't because we are all scared of something, for some it may be rejection others disappointment. When there comes a time when a person is finally free to let their opinions about someone out, the truth or that persons perception of the truth could've helped that person they were so afraid of, for some reason, to tell them what they think about them. They could've saved them or helped them become a better person and see things how other people might've seen them as well. In Ozymandias the speaker's attitude towards the former king is calm and mocking and this develops the type connection the speaker had to the "king".

The poem starts out with the speaker meeting a traveller talking about some stone remains in a desert. He then goes on to talk about the way he perceives the former statue to be. The speaker seems to be resentful in a way towards the king maybe because in his life he had someone with great power not treat him as fairly as he thought he should be treated. The sculptor that made the statue could be the speaker because it sounds like the sculptor had a a history with the king. The speaker describes what the statue looks like and the man could be seen either as sad or angry or maybe he's both and puts up a tough exterior to hide pain he has inside. Then the poem goes on to say " the hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed," which at first I thought was talking about the king but could be talking about the sculptor that when he was making the statue he had a deeper connection to the king than he thought because he as well was angry and sad about how his life ended up in ruins just like the statue of the king.

We start to make deeper connections as we re read and analyze certain texts. Looking at this poem for the first time I thought it was all about the king and how he thought he was a great ruler but in reality he tore apart himself and his kingdom. Then by switching it around from the point of view of the sculptor, he as well could be mocking the king in a subtle way but while making it seem like the  king is in a ruins, he was in ruins himself. So his attitude is trying to avoid his own issues by making it seem like the king has all the problems which is the outside exterior to the inside of speakers thoughts.