Shelley

England in 1819 and the last two ones and the poem as I said one two quatrains was then brought In
the English sonnet we actually have the last couplet that sort of delivers the punchline and Shelley here
does do that but in typical Shelley way that reaction that you have at the very beginning to (......) ok I
expected something when I read the poem but when you play the song it sort of ... here the same thing
happens when you start at the beginning with the An old, mad, blind and dying king all that anger that
sort of builds up and goes all the way to the last two lines and then again like what happens what do we
do with all that anger what do we do with all that emotion and energy that you have you just end by
saying that they are all graves for which a glorious Phantom may burst, to illumine our tempestuous
day Do you have a dictionary app on your phone can you check phantom for me because there is
one reference that could explain what this phantom may mean but when you check the dictionary you
get something pretty different from this specific reference that is made there Phantom. Phantom a
spirit of a dead person believed by some to visit the living as a pale almost transparent form of a person,
animal or other object. Used to describe something that you imagine exists or that appears to exist,
although in fact it does not. Ok something that you imagine exists but it does not in fact, I even have
varied definition.. A ghostly appearing figure (which was along the lines which you already read)
something existing in perception only but something apparently sensed but having no physical reality.
Does this remind you of something else that Shelley... The necessity. Think of that description of
Demogorgon that we have in Prometheus unbound something we feel is there but has no outlines, no
appearance, nothing. It fits here perfectly within that vague appearance, with that vagueness, even
though the note here directs to Napoleon Bonaparte, saying that it is actually Napoleon, but it is too
vague to be specifically Napoleon. It is very fuzzy what this phantom may mean but he even goes to
making even vaguer by saying that this phantom may arise. It is never will or must or has to arise, but a
.. Phantom may burst, to illumine our tempestuous day. So, maybe it will, maybe it will not, why is this
phantom we have no idea, and it is not our problem, mind you, it is not your problem that you don't
get what this phantom means, because Shelley thinks that as humans we can never really know, what
brings this change, where this change comes from, because change comes from necessity and we are
not capable of understanding that necessity fully. We can speak about it only in terms of those ghost-
like apparitions, things that we may think are there, but are not there, it has no form, no real
appearance. This is why Shelley gets to be vague. Ok, something will happen, it may happen after 1819,
after all these things that are listed here, but it may not as well, It may take more years for that. It may
happen tomorrow, or it may happen in a hundred years, I have no idea, this it why it may, a glorious
Phantom MAY burst after 1819, but it may as well burst after 1919, we are not sure, and again to go
back to that question and answer between Mercury and Prometheus when Mercury asks Prometheus
do you know the period of Jove's power, he says I know that it must come, when I have no idea, how
I have no idea, but it must come. So, a glorious phantom MUST arise at some point it just that we really
don't know when and we obviously don't know who or what this glorious phantom will be. This is why
our reaction to Shelley's poem why did you have to give us so much in order to end with this very
vague note why do you get so angry and then tell workers to just work for themselves, don't go out
don't fight work for them, just do your own thing ignore the rulers, why do you have to criticise so
much, list so many bad things to say that well this thingy may come at one point. Student: I
conclude that Shelley is kind of an optimist, because even though he is extremely disappointed by the
reality that surrounds him and he is not a believer in a sense that he is religious, but he does believe in
this kind of an optimistic force. Every now and then we get a new chance, that's imperative, that has to
happen, it's just where he gets to be quite pessimistic that is our knowledge as to when, how and
where. Student: He is not frustrated with it, he accepts the idea that he cannot comprehend and he is
okay with it and he believes that the outcome is positive. If he claimed that he knew, let's imagine (a
glorious new Napoleon WILL burst to illumine our tempestuous day) that would sound more like
religion. I know who this new man is, this new messiah, and I know when he will come, and I know that
he will come after 1819. That sounds more like religion. I'm just going to say, based on what we
witnessed in terms of historical processes and everything has to end, when does it end no idea, who
brings that end no idea, its just that we know things change, that's what we know for sure. He says at
the beginning of his Necessity of Atheism there is something but it is not what most religions describe.
He claims that he doesn't know, and at this particular point in 1819 there is not enough evidence that
this source is that. Maybe we will reach a point where we will understand, but in 1819 it is just
unknown, and claiming anything opposite would be wrong. Student: It has to do with the mind-set that
Napoleon will change how people live, but finally come to a realization that it is their minds that actually
stop them from achieving that. Once when something is apparently sensed, but having no physical
reality... This is very much open to our own interpretation, I wanted to highlight this because you may
be misled by believing that it is Napoleon. It is not only Napoleon.

Everything seems to be based on what we witness as historical processes, things necessarily come and
go. Phantom is a ghost that can wear different masks, at one point he may be Jesus Christ, at another
point we may have Napoleon Bonaparte, masks change, but the Phantom is something that is behind
that mask, if we limit it to just one point it is very wrong, it is limited and it doesn't help us understand
the poem.

Necessity is the most important message when it comes to Ozymandias, when it comes to that
particular sonnet, which also has a very atypical sonnet structure. In terms of structure Shelley is quite
romantic in terms of doing his own, original romantic twists. A couple of points that we should mention
about Ozymandias are primarily related to dates here. One date is 1798 (not because of Lyrical Ballads,
but because when Napoleon conquered Egypt and looted up Egyptian treasures and because of this lots
of Egyptian treasures became available to Europeans because Shelley never got to visit Egypt, but was
inspired to write Ozymandias because he saw the statue of Ozymandias in England which was brought
statue of Ramses 2nd). In 1815 one more thing that has to do with the message of Ozymandias, that
nothing lasts forever, every ruler, every hierarch, every oppressor no matter how big he seems to be at
one particular moment will eventually end up famously or infamously. That really depends on how great
he was. Napoleon's defeat and imprisonment on the island of st. Helena was something that also might
have formed Ozymandias, again, a great ruler ended up in such a bad way like Napoleon Bonaparte.
Shelley wrote Ozymandias in 1817, but polished one year later in 1818, however, one message that we
have in Ozymandias seems to be at first problematic, but on the other hand since we are talking about
Romanticism here and all imagination is subjective interpretation it is very creative. In 1822 the Roseta
stone was deciphered, so as of 1822 people could actually read Egyptian hieroglyphs and understand
that language. Before this year Shelley couldn't have understood what was actually written about
Ozymandias, or what was part of Ozymandias' statue, something that you have very clearly addressed in
the poem about Ozymandias, all these words, that is not something Shelley could've understood when
he was writing Ozymandias. So he made up that message that Ozymandias had for us. One more thing it
seems to be very important here in terms of the narrative structure of the poem, is that at the very
beginning of the 18 century 1706 the first English edition of the Arabian Nights was published, and
Arabian Nights in terms of narrative structure seems to be very important in this context as well. In
terms of historiographic truth England in 1819 is much closer to that truth than Ozymandias.
Ozymandias is just a work of imagination, part of it is true because Shelley saw the statue of Ozymandias
at the British museum where you can still see it. Ozymandias here is Ramses 2nd. This is the pharaoh
that Ozymandias' name really describes here. Ramses 2nd if you do some additional research you will
find that in popular culture it is believed that Ramses 2nd was that pharaoh who actually imprisoned the
tribes of Israelites and refused to let them go, and God punished them by 10 Biblical plagues. So that
pharaoh that I spoke about yesterday it is believed, but that is just the popular approach. One thing that
we need to highlight here that inspired this direct reference to Ramses 2nd we should approach
Ozymandias as another poetical obstruction. It is more than just a particular ruler, it is rulers in general,
the concept of a ruler. It may be Ramses 2nd or may also be Napoleon. It may be any other dictator,
hierarch, great ruler that comes after Napoleon. The message is pretty much the same. No matter how
much you believe that they are the greatest ones that their power will last eternally nothing lasts
eternally and everything has an end. That is one necessary thing for things to end. This is another
instance of Necessity, everything will end sooner of later.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who saidTwo vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . 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!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The turning point that we have in every sonnet, Shelley leaves to us to decide where that turning point
comes. Because, it may come after the first octave, but may actually come in the last couplet or
nothing besides remains may also be the point where this happens. Shelley was not very strict about
fixed point where volta may occur. Some other points that we should address here are related closely to
what I've said before. Impulses of the so-called oriental tale and again that goes back to 1706 when
the first English edition of Arabian Nights was published, and this entire sonnet has the structure of the
so-called oriental tale. Endless chain of narrative - I heard it from someone who heard it from someone
and it goes on and on. I met a traveller who saw the statue that is made by the sculptor that actually
knew Ozymandias and read his passion. You see the chain first we have Ozymandias then we have the
artist then the sculpture and then the traveller and then we have this I at the very beginning who tells
the story to us. This is the oriental structure that we mentioned. That is important to notice, not just
because the theme is quite oriental (Ozymandias, Ramses 2nd, all the Egyptian setting) but because of
the message that Shelley gives us. The message seems to be very simple, again, no matter how great
you think you are your time will end. That is what Necessity is about. Nothing lasts forever. My name is
Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! and when you look around
nothing remains, where are all the all these things that we should despair over. Nothing beside
remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch
far away. However, one thing remains. One thing seems to resist this imperative problem of Necessity.
Even though the statue is shattered, even though nothing remains around, we still know about
Ozymandias, we are still talking about Ozymandias, and about the message that he had for us. That
doesn't even work at all. Why do we know, or how come we know about Ozymandias if his statue is
shattered if nothing around remains? How come in 2016 we are still talking about him? Student: oral
tradition, gossip, remains, written sources. It is all invented. Shelley saw him at the British museum the
statue of Ramses. Student: I think for Shelley the idea that he saw this statue of a king who was once
powerful at the museum and his ability to observe that statue has triggered for him to think that this
guy was a powerful man. This idea that this powerful man is not a powerful man anymore gave him the
idea to write a poem about this universal character type that once powerful man now not. What
particular faculty is needed to think as he thinks about Ozymandias? Imagination. That is one thing
that seems to last forever, something that does not disappear, this whole poem is a work of
imagination, this encounter with a traveller from an Antiqued land is a work of imagination. Who knows,
this traveller who tells us is a work of imagination, stories that we tell to each other do not necessarily
have to be very fine truths, but also works of imagination. Thing is that in 2016 we still tell stories to
each other, and you do not have to check each and every fact to enjoy a story or to just start thinking
when we hear these stories. It seems that Necessity cannot affect one thing and that is human
imagination, and the power of art to tell stories about us. The power of sculpture to tell us something
about the passion of Ozymandias, what he was like. The power of narrative, the power of poetry can tell
us about, even though he believed that he was the greatest man on earth, things change, and the power
of conversation, we still react to Shelley the way Shelley intended for us to understand him.