Shelley, “Ozymandias” Reflection Blog #8

    From the title of this poem I guessed that it meant a name. Other than that I did not know what else it could mean, I never saw a word like that before so I didn't know what to think about it other than it being a name and most likely in a different language other than English. 
     When I began to read this poem I connected it to history. This poem was like a small little story that told about Shelley talking to a traveler. The traveler was in a place filled with sand, a desert and saw something standing in that desert. As I read on it was mentioned that it was a statue and from the word antique mentioned in the first line that the traveler came from a place that was antique I figured that this statue was old and crumbled. Though it was old, you could still tell that it expressed a lot of emotion according to this line "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read".
     By the end of this poem I knew the statue was a King and must have had some importance. What I got from this poem was that though something may be old and crumbling it can still stand tall and represent power if it is strong enough. This statue was of an old King in a desert with nothing else around it, but must have meant something to the traveler the traveler was talking about it. It must have been interesting. It reminds me of visiting an old historical land mark and wondering about the background of a sculpture or figure and trying to figure out its significance to the place it is in and to the people who built it. Usually sculptures of people are built to represent some sort of importance that that person held and to remember them for years to come. This specific one of "Ozymandias" must have held great power and importance if it is still standing.