Worn statues lying face down in the grass
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Gallery: king of kings

January 22, 2024 / 54 Comments

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . .

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ozymandias

Whenever I see the ruined signs of a past civilisation I am reminded of this poem by one of my favourite poets. All through the centuries powerful rulers have erected monuments and buildings that demonstrate their own sense of self-importance and yes, their narcissism. ‘Look at me, see how mighty I am’, they seem to say. And at the time those rulers were indeed mighty. But time passes and their power with it. No one captures better than Shelley in this poem that sense of past glories now lost, and the powerful now powerless.

For this week’s Lens Artists challenge Ann Christine asks us to illustrate a favourite quote or poem. I have so many favourite poems, albeit not all of them easy to illustrate! I was inspired to choose this one in part by a recent exchange of comments with Maggie, of Monkey’s Tale. Her post on the ‘Ancient statues on Mount Nemrut’ in Turkey made me think immediately of Ozymandias.

My quotation above is of the opening lines of the poem; below I quote the rest with my chosen illustrations. Not all these ruins are of kings specifically, but all speak of a civilisation that once thought itself never-ending.

As an aside, I wonder if one day the statues of the Great Leaders of North Korea will lie in similar ruins, their apparently unassailable grip on power lost forever?

NB Photos three and four below are scans of very old slides (Jordan 1996, Egypt 1990). While not in great condition they are both of places that remind me of this poem.

Ruined tower with a face carved on it

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

One of 37 faces of King Jayavarman VII on the Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Worn statues lying face down in the grass

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

Toppled Moai, Vaihu, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Immense worn statue of a seated figure

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Colossi of Memnon (depicting Amenhotep III, ruler of Ancient Egypt c 1386 to 1349 BC)

Two men, one on a donkey, approaching a cliff with ruined buildings carved into it

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Royal Tombs, Petra, Jordan

NB This poem is in the public domain and therefore it’s permissible to quote it in full

54 Comments

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