Ozymandias- Man vs. Nature... by Shelley

I have very mixed feelings about the poem called Ozymandias by Shelley. Usually a poem brings one main idea to my attention but in this poem I can not really figure out one topic to choose over another. Nature, immortality and personal despair are the three main themes that come to my mind when I think of Ozymandias. It is extremely hard to narrow the author’s thought to only one. He, more than likely did not have only one himself. The poem starts with a mysterious “traveler from an antique land” (1) describing the demolished statue of Ozymandias (more known as Ramses II). The traveler serves as the human awareness needed to give a certain vigor to the thought of the destructiveness of nature. We can only assume nature was responsible for its demolition since Shelley does not mention how the statue got ruined. Also, it was sited in an isolated location that makes the act of a human power more improbable. However, Shelley wants his readers to imagine that statue of the great King Ozymandias. On his pedestal: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair!” (10-11) has been carved in. That is a proof that this king was very insolent and overconfident. The word “Works” being capitalized is not random. It is this way as if it deserved veneration and awe. Shelley also wants us to notice that however great of a statue it was, it still has been smashed to the ground: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desart…. Near them on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies,” (2-4) so we can have a better mental picture of what is left. This pair of legs was standing on a plinth, alone, in the middle of a desert and was looking to the ground to find the rest of the sculpture crushed into pieces. We look around to see his works so that we can “despair” (11) and we find that "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away." (12-14) I find that amusing as a situation overall. Nature has infatuated man. Nature always wins at the end. He tried to build a huge empire and then teased all of nature’s labor to the point of wondering “who could beat him?” He did not realize who he was “facing” when he decided to “challenge” nature. Nature has once again proved the far-reaching strength of its power. To an extent, nature’s haughtiness is also evident too though. Nature destroyed man’s “Work” and leaves us the pedestal to read. Is that a provocation? A proof? A sign? Shelley wants his readers to believe the pedestal was left for the only purpose of giving a lesson to men. Nothing that Ozymandias accomplished remained in existence. Nature, on the other end, survived and shattered all that he had done.
Another version for the meaning of that poem that I thought could be interested to dig in was to note that this poem was written during a time of great desolation in his life. Shelley's first wife had just committed suicide. He could not obtain custody of his children, his baby daughter had just passed away; and Shelley himself was weighed down by illness, pain, and financial worries. A sort of midlife crisis seemed to have seized him to the most profound of his soul. This poem could be related to his sudden difficult situation. Shelley just like Ozymandias, who was a gifted man and had accomplished most of what he wanted in life was now sitting broken down by what just took place. He could not just get up and start a new life. He was very ill, depressed and broken. This is a message Shelley sent through his poem, a howl of his heart facing a situation no man would want to experience.
The last analysis I came up with is that this poem is used to convey the feeling that immortality does not walk hand in hand with wealth. Through the use of dramatic imagery and irony, the poet attempts to clarify that no one lives forever like the belongings they assemble and possess. For example, he refers to the wrecked crumbles of the statue with only legs and head remaining, lying inert in the desert as “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.” (4-6) Long ago, a statue of a great man stood there, but years after years, the glorious statue has been reduced to debris and not long after was forgotten. Immortality is not a luxury you can buy. Shelley illustrated to his readers that properties do not last forever by comparing them to the king. The king assumed that his kingdom and his heritage would last forever under his statue’s “watchful eye,” however, the statue just worn out in the middle of the desert (also synonymous of immensity) meaning one individual is nothing compared to the world. When the narrator says: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” (11) he means that in spite of all the power one may obtain over their magnificent lifetime, materialistic goods do not last forever. In the end, the king’s works can not be used as a bargain for everlasting life, and the couple of lines graved upon his statue are a sermon for those who read the exergue.