This sonnet by Shelley revolves around a single object, a broken statue. The poet once met a man who had been to an antique land. The man recalls how he had seen the ruins of a statue in the desert. Only the legs of the statue stood standing, while the head was half sunk in the sand. The face of the person whose statue it was had a cold sneer on it. The expression was so vivid, that it could be said that the sculptor had done justice to the owner of it. Though the king had been heartless, he had taken care of his subjects.
The inscription on the pedestal of the statue claimed him to be the king of kings. Once a powerful king, now he was reduced to pieces. Nothing of the power or the king remained. All was reduced to sand. This shows that time is powerful than anything else in the world. No matter how great a king was or how big his kingdom was, his pride will cause his downfall.
The irony of the poem shows in the lines when Ozymandias says ?Look upon my works,? but in fact his statue was lying on the sand, shattered to pieces and nothing remained of his kingdom which gave him reason to boast.
