- antiqueadjectiveChapter 1 →
Belonging to a very ancient, long-vanished era; here it suggests a civilization so old it feels remote and almost mythical, not merely old-fashioned.
“a traveller from an antique land”
- vastadjectiveChapter 1 →
Immense in size or extent, stretching so far in every direction that it feels boundless and overwhelming.
- trunklessadjectiveChapter 1 →
Having no torso or body — only the legs remain standing, severed from the rest of the statue above the waist.
- visagenounChapter 1 →
A person's face, especially as it expresses character or feeling; here it refers to the carved stone face of the fallen king.
- wrinkled lipphraseChapter 1 →
A curled or twisted upper lip, conveying contempt or disdain — part of the expression frozen into the statue's broken face.
“wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”
- sneernounChapter 1 →
A facial expression of scorn or contempt, with the lip curled to show superiority and dismissal of others.
“wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”
- cold commandphraseChapter 1 →
Authority exercised without warmth or mercy — the kind of power that issues orders with icy indifference to those who must obey.
“wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”
- mockedverbChapter 1 →
Copied or imitated faithfully in stone — here the sculptor's hand 'mocked' the king's expressions by reproducing them exactly in the carved face.
“The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.”
- fedverbChapter 1 →
Nourished or sustained; the king's heart 'fed' those passions, meaning his inner will kept his cruelty and pride alive.
“The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.”
- pedestalnounChapter 1 →
The base or platform on which a statue stands; the block of stone that supports the sculpture and bears the carved inscription.
- yeChapter 1 →
An archaic second-person plural pronoun meaning 'you' — used here to address a group of powerful rulers directly.
“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
- MightyadjectiveChapter 1 →
Those who hold great power or rule over others; used here as a noun to address other kings and conquerors.
“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
- despairverbChapter 1 →
To lose all hope; the inscription commands rival rulers to give up any ambition of surpassing Ozymandias's greatness.
“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
- colossaladjectiveChapter 1 →
Gigantic in scale, far larger than life-size — describing the enormous proportions of the ruined statue.
- decaynounChapter 1 →
The gradual breaking down and ruin of something over time; the process by which the once-grand statue has crumbled and fallen apart.
- loneadjectiveChapter 1 →
Solitary and isolated, with nothing else nearby — emphasising how completely empty the desert is around the ruined statue.
“The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
- leveladjectiveChapter 1 →
Perfectly flat and featureless, extending without any rise or landmark — reinforcing the image of an endless, uniform desert.
“The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
OzymandiasShort story by Percy Bysshe Shelley