On this day, January 11 in 1818 Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias was published in The Examiner.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart.[d] 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 on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Ozymandias is sort of part of the furniture of educated people, at least in the UK? It’s one of those allusions you are expected to “get” – blah blah Bourdieu and cultural capital blah blah.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were at 284 parts per million.
As of 2026 they are 428ppm at and rising rapidly. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.
Btw, the point(s) of this project is …. the how, the who the hell am I and the what do I currently believe?
The context was, according to Wikipedia
“The poem was the result of a friendly competition between Shelley and fellow poet Horace Smith; using the subject of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, Ozymandias being the Greek name for the pharaoh. Both Shelley’s poem and Smith’s “Ozymandias” explore the ravages of time to which the legacies of even the greatest are subject.”
Why care?
Poetry helps us see things? No?
(How) does it connect to climate change?
Sand, time, hubris, humans as dust. You see where I am going with this?
What happened next
Shelley kept putting off the swimming lessons, and that was a mistake.
How does it help us understand the world?
Metaphors and allusions help us see things that are (being) hidden. Ozymandias reminds us that today’s sneers of arrogant command are tomorrow’s fishwrap.
How does it help us act in the world?
This is one to memorise. Reminds us that “this too shall pass” – and that includes human “civilisation”…
The source that it comes from, if necessary,
Xxx
The other things that you could read about this or watch
Larkin’s poem Aubade?
What do you think?
If you have opinions or info about this, or other things that happened on this day that are worth knowing, let me know!
Also on this day